Popular music and identity formation among Kenyan youth
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15555646 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Henry Wanjala (Kenyatta University), Charles Kebaya (Kenyatta University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 20-35 |
| Publication date | 2016-07-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Muziki (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1753-593X • E-ISSN: 1812-5980 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/18125980.2016.1249159 |
| OpenAlex | W2588666340 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 24 |
The role of music in the formation and shaping of identity cannot be gainsaid since music represents an important cultural sphere where identities are affirmed, challenged, torn apart and reconstructed. Many young people use music and musicians that they admire to distinguish themselves from their peers. Thus, the choice of music among the youth often serves as an important marker of the character and nature of identity under construction. Music is meant to be fun, to brighten life, but the development and expression of musical taste can also be a serious statement about one’s identity. Pop music as a genre has had the greatest appeal and impact to the majority of the youth in Kenya. The influence of the medium and its artists on overall identity development is pervasive, complex, and far-reaching in its cultural significance. Grounded in both a historical analysis and a theoretical framework of identity, we interrogate how contemporary pop music shapes and influences identities among Kenyan youth. Using purposively selected contemporary popular music in Kenya, the article provides a textual exegesis of how music uses resources of history, language, and culture in the construction and performance of certain identities. To this end, the study analyses the strategic position of identity and the possibility of connecting it with conceptions of time, discourse, and history. This study provides new insights into how music – as a medium in which identities are constructed, performed, and contested – can be utilised meaningfully in shaping worldviews among Kenyan youth
Aesthetics · Art · Cultural identity · Identity (music · Identity formation · Kenya · Literature · Music history · Musical · Political science · Popular music · Self-concept · Social science · Sociology · Youth culture · Diverse Music Education Insights · Diverse Musicological Studies · Gender Studies · Music History and Culture
The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya
Media and The City
Introduction
A History of African Popular Culture
‘Bodies that Matter’
Sound Tracks
Popular Music in Urban East Africa
Masculinity and nationalism in East African hip-hop music
A history of Kenyan guitar music
Risk society
Africa is still our mama
Rumba on the River
Reflections on music and meaning
Central Problems in Social Theory
Consumer Culture and Postmodernism
Engaging Postcolonial Cultures
Political Ethnicity in the Democratisation Process in Kenya
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.63 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2025 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |