Hip Hop Studies: Global and Local

Saturday, 13 September 2014
University of Helsinki, Finland

The Finnish Youth Research Society and the University of Helsinki’s discipline of Social
and Cultural Anthropology are pleased to announce an international and
interdisciplinary symposium showcasing contemporary studies of hip hop from
established and emerging scholars from Finland and around the world.

The symposium theme, Hip Hop Studies: Global and Local, focuses critical attention on
the relationship between the globalization of hip hop and its many diverse
manifestations in localities around the world, revealing hip hop’s complexities and
contradictions. The worldwide popularity of hip hop can be attributed to both the
immense power of the global culture industry, and to the vitality of countless local
‘underground’ hip hop scenes. Moreover, while the globalization of hip hop has
introduced common elements in popular music and youth culture worldwide, localized
expressions of hip hop are often suspicious of (sub)cultural homogenization and
imitation.

Three international speakers will address the symposium: Alex Perullo (Bryant
University, USA), Benita Moolman (Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa),
and Tony Mitchell (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia).

We invite proposals for individual presentations, analyzing the production and
consumption of hip hop from anywhere in the world and from any scholarly discipline.
In addition to questions of the influence of national and regional cultures, organizers
are particularly interested in the influence of class inequality, migration, spirituality,
and gender relations upon hip hop in global and local perspectives.

Please email an abstract of 200–300 words along with your name, affiliation, and
contact details to [email protected] before 31 July 2014. Confirmation
letters will be emailed on 01 August 2014.

This symposium will launch a new scholarly imitative, the Research Network on Hip
Hop in Finland. Further details about this network will be made available at the
symposium event.

Organizers are exploring opportunities to develop a publication from the symposium.
Participation in the symposium is free, but organizers regret that no funds are available
to subsidize travel or accommodation.

The language of the symposium will be English.