Feeling so Hood. Rap, lifestyles and the neighbourhood imaginary in Tunisia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12533554 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stefano Barone (0000-0003-0437-9452, Griffith University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 88-103 |
| Publication date | 2017-09-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1353-0194 • E-ISSN: 1469-3542 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13530194.2017.1371001 |
| OpenAlex | W2750585229 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
The article examines the role of rap in reimagining the social structure in Tunisia after its 2010/2011 revolution. Before the revolution, the Ben Ali regime imposed a narrative of Tunisian society as mainly middle class; beneath this narrative, the Tunisian folklore hosted multiple markers of social distinction that classified people through their perceived lifestyles: residence, language habits, consumption patterns, religious attitudes. Disadvantaged neighbourhoods were obliterated by the official narrative and condemned to social spite by the unofficial ones. After the revolution, the success of rap came to ‘represent’ those quarters and the youth that inhabited them: rappers sang the hoods by criticizing their hard conditions and, at the same time, glorifying the hoods themselves. The vagueness of the social narratives in the country allowed rap musicians to manipulate both the image of the poor neighbourhoods and the idioms of social difference circulating in Tunisia: through this manipulation, they provided a new dignity to the most marginalized sectors of Tunisian society. At the same time, by representing the hoods, rappers could claim social capital and credibility as the ‘true’ narrators of the new Tunisia. But the reimagination of social narratives was not enough to improve the life conditions of dispossessed youth
Art · Feeling · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Neighbourhood (mathematics · Sociology · The Imaginary · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Gender Studies · Music History and Culture · Political and Social Issues · Psychology · Social Psychology
The language of hip hop and rap in Tunisia
Digital mediascapes and cultural transformation
The carceral in Tunisian popular culture
Electronic Dunes and Downtown Vibes. The Social Construction of an Underground Electro Scene in Tunisia
Politik rakat
The ground Zero of a generation. Borders, neoliberalism and sports through the material culture of the skateboard scene in Tijuana
Rap and Mizoued Music
The Tunisian rap scene
Peripheral resistance
Staging Arts in the Historic City
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,43 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |