G4 Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
The discursive construction of authenticity : resources, scales and polycentricity in Finnish hip hop culture (2014)
Autenttisuuden diskursiivinen rakentuminen : resurssit, skaalat ja polysentrisyys suomalaisessa hiphop-kulttuurissa

Westinen, E. (2014). The discursive construction of authenticity : resources, scales and polycentricity in Finnish hip hop culture [Doctoral dissertation]. Jyväskylän yliopisto. Jyväskylä studies in humanities, 227. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-5728-5

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Westinen, Elina

ISBN: 978-951-39-5727-8

eISBN: 978-951-39-5728-5

Journal or series: Jyväskylä studies in humanities

ISSN: 1459-4323

eISSN: 1459-4331

Publication year: 2014

Number in series: 227

Number of pages in the book: 374

Publisher: Jyväskylän yliopisto

Place of Publication: Jyväskylä

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: English

Persistent website address: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-5728-5

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-5728-5

Abstract

This study explores the construction of authenticity in Finnish hip hop culture. More specifically, I investigate how three Finnish rap artists, Cheek, Pyhimys and Stepa, construct their authenticity via linguistic and discursive resources and repertoires, projecting several scale-levels and orienting towards various centers of norms. The data of the study comprise rap lyrics, interviews and ethnographic observations of these three rap artists, who differ in their origins, genre and experience. To examine this contemporary, global phenomenon with relevant theories and concepts, and to involve the artists themselves in this study, I draw on the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the sociolinguistics of globalization, discourse studies and ethnography. Although the global spread of hip hop culture, and its local appropriations, has nowadays been extensively explored, research in and about the Finnish context remains scarce, particularly within sociolinguistics. Thus, the present study is a pioneering effort in Finnish hip hop research, while also contributing to the global sociolinguistic hip hop research tradition. Authenticity (‘keepin’ it real’), one of the most significant values and mantras of hip hop culture, is constructed in a complex relation to both oneself and others, and in local, national and global contexts. Traditionally, authenticity has been understood in fairly dichotomous and categorical terms vis-à-vis, for instance, ‘race’, ‘language’ and ‘genre’. The findings of this study suggest, however, a (more) multifaceted and nuanced view of authenticity: one constructed via (semiotic practices in) language and discourse, organized on (fractal and subjective) scales and oriented to several norm-providing centers. The artists studied here construct authenticity in their own, unique (but also shared) ways and occupy different (partly fixed, yet mobile) positions in the ‘ideological topography’ of Finnish hip hop. This study also highlights how centers, margins and periphery are not ‘fixed’ categories but maneuverable and subjective. In sum, making use of ethnographic knowledge, multiple data sets and relevant theoretical orientations, enables hip hop authenticity to be viewed as linguistic, discursive, scalar, fractal, polycentric, and both urban and rural – as complex, yet ordered.

Keywords: hip hop; rap music; lyric poetry; music culture; globalisation; Finnish identity; local character; regional identity; genuineness; authenticity; performing artists; entertainers; sociolinguistics; ethnography; lyrics

Free keywords: discourse studies; Finland; Finnish; globalization; hip hop culture; interview; polycentricity; repertoire; resource; scale

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2014

Preliminary JUFO rating: Not rated