JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 227 Elina Westinen The Discursive Construction of Authenticity Resources, Scales and Polycentricity in Finnish Hip Hop Culture JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 227 Elina Westinen The Discursive Construction of Authenticity Resources, Scales and Polycentricity in Finnish Hip Hop Culture Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston humanistisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston vanhassa juhlasalissa S212 kesäkuun 15. päivänä 2014 kello 12. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Jyväskylä, in building Seminarium, auditorium S212, on June 15, 2014 at 12 o’clock noon. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2014 The Discursive Construction of Authenticity Resources, Scales and Polycentricity in Finnish Hip Hop Culture JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 227 Elina Westinen The Discursive Construction of Authenticity Resources, Scales and Polycentricity in Finnish Hip Hop Culture UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2014 Editors Paula Kalaja Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä Pekka Olsbo, Timo Hautala Publishing Unit, University Library of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities Editorial Board Editor in Chief Heikki Hanka, Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä Petri Karonen, Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä Paula Kalaja, Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä Petri Toiviainen, Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä Tarja Nikula, Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä Raimo Salokangas, Department of Communication, University of Jyväskylä Cover picture by Matti Hirvanen URN:ISBN:978-951-39-5728-5 ISBN 978-951-39-5728-5 (PDF) ISBN 978-951-39-5727-8 (nid.) ISSN 1459-4323 (nid), 1459-4331 (PDF) Copyright © 2014, by University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä University Printing House, Jyväskylä 2014 This academic dissertation “The Discursive Construction of Authenticity: Resources, Scales and Polycentricity in Finnish Hip Hop Culture” is based on a joint degree agreement between the Faculty of Humanities, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and the School of Humanities, Tilburg University, The Netherlands. ABSTRACT Westinen, Elina The discursive construction of authenticity: Resources, scales and polycentricity in Finnish hip hop culture Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2014, 374 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities, ISSN 1459-4323; 227) (nid), 1459-4331 (PDF) ISBN 978-951-39-5727-8 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-5728-5 (PDF) 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: authenticity, discourse studies, ethnography, Finland, Finnish, globalization, hip hop culture, interview, lyrics, polycentricity, rap music, repertoire, resource, scale, sociolinguistics Author’s address Elina Westinen Department of Languages / University of Jyväskylä P.O. Box 35 40014 University of Jyväskylä Finland [email protected] & Department of Culture Studies / Tilburg University P.O. Box 90153 5000 LE Tilburg The Netherlands Supervisors Professor Sirpa Leppänen Department of Languages University of Jyväskylä, Finland Professor Jan Blommaert Department of Culture Studies Tilburg University, The Netherlands Reviewers Professor Alastair Pennycook Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Technology Sydney, Australia Associate Professor Christina Higgins, PhD Department of Second Language Studies University of Hawai’i at Manoa, United States of America Academy Research Fellow Antti-Ville Kärjä, PhD, Docent Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive, Helsinki, Finland Opponent Professor Alastair Pennycook ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – ESIPUHE This has been a special and fascinating journey, one that has taken me to different places in the world, both literally and figuratively. In the process, I’ve learned a great deal, also about myself. I’ve been privileged to explore a specific culture I have a passion for. I love hip hop. Therefore, conducting research and writing this book has included not only hard work but also much play. During this process, I’ve also been privileged to receive guidance and support from many amazing people. My dear supervisors, Sirpa Leppänen and Jan Blommaert: we have made an excellent team. I couldn’t be happier about our co-operation: your comments have complemented one another in a fruitful way. I’m extremely grateful and honored to have had you as my supervisors. Sirpa, thank you for guiding, helping and supporting me extensively throughout the years (ever since my MA thesis) and for always finding time for me and my questions. Thank you also for the initial encouragement to start the postgraduate studies. Jan, our Distinguished Professor, thank you for believing in my work and its significance, and for boosting up my self-confidence in my own work. The Tilburg visits (retreats) were always a pleasure. Thank you for your time, effort and inspiration. Both of you are amazing supervisors, each in your own way, and role models in academia for me and others. I am deeply grateful to my pre-examiners Alastair Pennycook, Christina Higgins and Antti-Ville Kärjä for their insightful and critical comments on the thesis, as they helped me to strengthen the argument for the final manuscript. I feel privileged to have had such experts read my text and comment on it from different, complementary viewpoints. I also want to thank Alastair for agreeing to act as my opponent in the public defense. It’s a great honor and, I must admit, a moment I’ve been hoping for ever since I started this project. I’ve been extremely lucky to be part of the research project Language and Superdiversity, funded by the Academy of Finland and lead by our dear PI, Sirpa. Thank you Saija Peuronen for friendship and collegial support (ever since our ‘wanna-be’ status at VARIENG); Henna Jousmäki for much support and advice, particularly in relation to music and culture; Samu Kytölä, in addition to professional talk, for sports and football talk. Forza Italia!; and Mia Halonen for advice, support and good laughs. Via our project, I have also been privileged to be part of the International Consortium for Language and Superdiversity. Thank you, InCoLaS members, for support and guidance. During the earlier stage of my studies, I was fortunate to belong to VARIENG (The Center of Excellence for the Study of Variation, Contacts and Change in English), funded by the Academy of Finland. Alicia Copp Mökkönen, as office mates, we shared quite a bit, both work- and other-wise. I am so happy I got to share the office with you, in particular – thank you for everything! I hope our paths will cross many more times still. Thank you Tiina Räisänen for many (collegial) talks over the years. And thank you other ‘hupsut’, (the above- mentioned Sirpa, Saija, Henna and Samu), Leila Kääntä, Terhi Paakkinen, Ari Häkkinen, Marianne Laaksonen, Heidi Jauni, Mikko Laitinen, Arja Piirainen- Marsh and Tarja Nikula, for very inspiring seminars and fun freetime activities. Thank you VARIENG Helsinki for broadening my linguistic understanding. Thank you Anne Pitkänen-Huhta (also a ‘hupsu’), our head of the department, for funding, facilities and support as well as engaging me in teaching and coordinating courses. Other colleagues, Mika Lähteenmäki, Kati Dlaske,