Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip Hop
In this article, I examine cultural production as an avenue for mapping African diasporic identities and racialised experiences in Finland. Hip hop culture has long acted as a lingua franca for the African diaspora and has been central in the development of collective identities among second-generat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Open Cultural Studies |
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| Online Access: | http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/culture.2019.3.issue-1/culture-2019-0033/culture-2019-0033.xml?format=INT |
| _version_ | 1811294393312739328 |
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| author | Kelekay Jasmine Linnea |
| author_facet | Kelekay Jasmine Linnea |
| author_sort | Kelekay Jasmine Linnea |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, I examine cultural production as an avenue for mapping African diasporic identities and racialised experiences in Finland. Hip hop culture has long acted as a lingua franca for the African diaspora and has been central in the development of collective identities among second-generation European youth of colour. Prior to the 2010s, the landscape of Finnish hip hop was largely white with little engagement with race or hip hop’s roots as a Black American cultural form. This status quo was disrupted by the rise of Afro-Finnish rappers. Since gaining mainstream visibility, they have catapulted into the national consciousness with music that reclaims the language of racial and ethnic identities, interrogates assumptions about national belonging, and represents the lived experiences of first-generation Black/Afro-Finnish men. Approaching hip hop as a resource for resisting normative Whiteness and carving out space for Black/African diasporic collectivities in the Finnish cultural and political imaginary, I show how Afro-Finnish rappers articulate and navigate Blackness in relation to identity, racism, and national belonging in Finland. In doing so, I emphasise the tensions between racial, ethnic, and cultural hybridity, on the one hand, and the rigidity of Finnish Whiteness and national exclusion, on the other. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T05:16:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b861b60dffe4425e9a8ab35be2ad2218 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2451-3474 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T05:16:55Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Cultural Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-b861b60dffe4425e9a8ab35be2ad22182022-12-22T03:00:52ZengDe GruyterOpen Cultural Studies2451-34742019-01-013138640110.1515/culture-2019-0033culture-2019-0033Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip HopKelekay Jasmine Linnea0University of California—Santa BarbaraIn this article, I examine cultural production as an avenue for mapping African diasporic identities and racialised experiences in Finland. Hip hop culture has long acted as a lingua franca for the African diaspora and has been central in the development of collective identities among second-generation European youth of colour. Prior to the 2010s, the landscape of Finnish hip hop was largely white with little engagement with race or hip hop’s roots as a Black American cultural form. This status quo was disrupted by the rise of Afro-Finnish rappers. Since gaining mainstream visibility, they have catapulted into the national consciousness with music that reclaims the language of racial and ethnic identities, interrogates assumptions about national belonging, and represents the lived experiences of first-generation Black/Afro-Finnish men. Approaching hip hop as a resource for resisting normative Whiteness and carving out space for Black/African diasporic collectivities in the Finnish cultural and political imaginary, I show how Afro-Finnish rappers articulate and navigate Blackness in relation to identity, racism, and national belonging in Finland. In doing so, I emphasise the tensions between racial, ethnic, and cultural hybridity, on the one hand, and the rigidity of Finnish Whiteness and national exclusion, on the other.http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/culture.2019.3.issue-1/culture-2019-0033/culture-2019-0033.xml?format=INTfinlandblack europeracemusicplacehip hopafro-finns |
| spellingShingle | Kelekay Jasmine Linnea Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip Hop Open Cultural Studies finland black europe race music place hip hop afro-finns |
| title | Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip Hop |
| title_full | Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip Hop |
| title_fullStr | Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip Hop |
| title_full_unstemmed | Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip Hop |
| title_short | Too Dark to Support the Lions, But Light Enough for the Frontlines”: Negotiating Race, Place, and Nation in Afro-Finnish Hip Hop |
| title_sort | too dark to support the lions but light enough for the frontlines negotiating race place and nation in afro finnish hip hop |
| topic | finland black europe race music place hip hop afro-finns |
| url | http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/culture.2019.3.issue-1/culture-2019-0033/culture-2019-0033.xml?format=INT |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kelekayjasminelinnea toodarktosupportthelionsbutlightenoughforthefrontlinesnegotiatingraceplaceandnationinafrofinnishhiphop |