The multisemiotic construction of ‘new’ ethnicities and (non)belonging in Finnish hip hop culture

Main funder

Funder's project number: 315461

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Funding program

Project timetable

Project start date: 01/09/2018

Project end date: 13/08/2022

Summary

This project examines the construction of ‘new’ ethnicities and (non)belonging in Finnish hip hop culture, in a range of physical and digital contexts. The project investigates what kind of language(s), discourse(s), (moving) image, sound and music Finnish rap artists and fans of immigrant background as well as the media make use of in their construction and representation of ‘new’ ethnicities and (non)belonging. Theoretically and methodologically, the study draws on sociolinguistics, discourse and multimodality studies and ethnography. Its data consist of 1) the lyrics, interviews, social media activities and ethnographic observations of rap artists, 2) interviews, social media activities and ethnographic observations of fans and 3) media material (e.g. interviews and gig reports) concerning migrant rap. This research shows how ‘new’ ethnicities and (non)belonging are constructed in multifaceted and complex ways in the context of continually diversifying and polarizing Finland.

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