Overview
In this book, Mwenda Ntarangwi analyzes how young hip hop artists in the East African nations of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania showcase the opportunities and challenges brought by the globalization of music. Combining local popular music traditions with American and Jamaican styles of rap, East African hip hop culture reflects the difficulty of creating commercially accessible music while honoring tradition and East African culture. Ntarangwi pays special attention to growing cross-border exchanges within East African hip hop, collaborations in recording music and performances, and themes and messages that transcend local geographic boundaries. In using hip hop as a medium for discussing changes in East African political, economic, and social conditions, artists vocalize their concerns about economic policies, African identity, and political establishments, as well as important issues of health (such as HIV/AIDS), education, and poverty. Through three years of fieldwork, rich interviews with artists, and analysis of live performances and more than 140 songs, Ntarangwi finds that hip hop provides youth an important platform for social commentary and cultural critique and calls attention to the liberating youth music culture in East Africa.
Full Product Details
Author: Mwenda Ntarangwi
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.340kg
ISBN: 9780252034572
ISBN 10: 0252034570
Pages: 176
Publication Date: 08 September 2009
Audience:
Adult education
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
This gracefully written book takes East African hip hop music as a revealing entry point into the experiences of youth as they deal with issues of gender, sexuality, economic inequality, and political power. An excellent contribution to anthropology and African studies. Angelique Haugerud, author of The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya I highly recommend this book and I hope there will be an East African edition of the same...the most enjoyable and authorative section of the book is where Prof Ntarangwi analyses Wahu's live performance, in which the artiste and her audience interact in Sheng. Evan Mwangi, Sunday Nation, 20th Sept 2009
"""This gracefully written book takes East African hip hop music as a revealing entry point into the experiences of youth as they deal with issues of gender, sexuality, economic inequality, and political power. An excellent contribution to anthropology and African studies."" Angelique Haugerud, author of The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya ""I highly recommend this book and I hope there will be an East African edition of the same...the most enjoyable and authorative section of the book is where Prof Ntarangwi analyses Wahu's live performance, in which the artiste and her audience interact in Sheng."" Evan Mwangi, Sunday Nation, 20th Sept 2009"
Author Information
Mwenda Ntarangwi is an associate professor of anthropology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the author of Gender, Performance, and Identity: Understanding Swahili Cultural Realities Through Songs and coeditor of African Anthropologies: History, Critique and Practice.
