Raps of Consciousness: Articulating Women’S Rights Through Hip Hop in the Middle East and North Africa Region
(W)RAPS OF CONSCIOUSNESS: ARTICULATING WOMEN’S RIGHTS THROUGH HIP HOP IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION BY ANGELA SELENA WILLIAMS DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Policy Studies in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Cameron McCarthy, Chair Associate Professor Ruth Nicole Brown Professor Pradeep Dhillon Professor William Trent ABSTRACT Although hip hop culture has widely been acknowledged as a global cultural movement, little attention has been given to women’s participation in various parts of the world and how this participation interacts with and impacts the lives of other women. In this dissertation, I use the lenses of postcolonial aesthetics (McCarthy and Dimitriadi, 2000; Dhillon, 2014), U.S. third world feminist studies (Sandoval, 1991; Spivak, 1985; Mansour, 2016) and hip hop feminist studies (Morgan, 1999; Pough, 2004; Brown, 2013; Durham, 2013) to examine the diverse lived experiences of girls and women in the Middle East and North Africa region through the work of seven female rappers: Shadia Mansour (Palestine), Malikah (Lebanon), Soutlana (Morocco), Soska (Egypt), Myam Mahmoud (Egypt), Amani (Yemen), and Justina (Iran). Representations of girlhood and womanhood are received and interpreted by women from these countries residing in a Midwestern university town in the U.S. through interviews and discussions as the women reflect on what the messages from the artists mean in their own lives. Through discourse ethnography (Morley, 1999; Baéz, 2007; Durham, 2013), I analyze popular culture texts, including online songs, videos, lyrics, commentary and media coverage, created by and dedicated to MENA women rappers.
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