Breaking down hegemony with Hip-Hop

'Hegemony is achieved when the power of the dominant groups in a society appears natural. It is … one where those who have power maintain their position through the creation of a particular worldview. Newspapers, TV and radio can be used to communicate the viewpoint of the ruling elites’ (Steven 2003, p. 43).

When I read Steven’s definition of hegemony, I am inclined to reflect back to a time when I believed everything I was fed by the dominant social groups in Australia.

Muslims have been labelled various terms pertaining 
negative connotations in recent times.
(Source: kractivist.org)

Shaped by what I viewed on mainstream news programs, I recall a time when I feared Muslims and viewed their religion as deviant and oppressive against women.

However, as I entered my teenage years, these perceptions drastically changed.

With my affection for music taking off at a rapid pace, and after a few years of tinkering with different genres (rock, pop, techno, to name a few), hip-hop entered my life and, undoubtedly, changed it forever.

Particularly, my discovery of what is termed by some as conscious hip-hop has been remarkably influential in determining my perceptions of the world.

Dyson defines conscious hip-hop as 'rap that is socially aware and consciously connected to historic patterns of political protest and aligned with progressive forces of social critique' (Dyson 2007, p. 64).

One influential artist of this subgenre is UK rapper Lowkey.

Lowkey is a Muslim, and his lyrics have persuaded me to alter my view on what Islam is, and what it actually stands for.

Many of his topics attempt to combat Western hegemony by questioning dominant Western depictions of Muslims.

He also lyricises of the importance of women and how they should be valued and respected by everyone, which contradicted my previous theory of Muslim women suffering under domineering males.

Indeed, as fate would have it, I ultimately resided in a predominantly-Muslim nation for twelve months during 2012, while I am now married to a Muslim woman.

If it were not for the conscious hip-hop lyrics of Lowkey and similar artists (such as Akala), I struggle to comprehend how I would have opened my eyes to Islam beyond what I digested in the mainstream media.

References:

Dyson, M 2007, 'Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip-Hop'. Basic Civitas, New York.

Lowkey - Something Wonderful (Official Video)+ Lyrics 2010, YouTube, Globalfaction, 11 October, retrieved 4 August 2013, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=givhD3cKL3k>

Steven, P 2003, 'Political economy: the howling, brawling, global market place', The no-nonsense guide to global media 2003, New Internationalist/Verso, Oxford.

Globalisation and Ethnoscapes

Globalisation. So, what is it?

Anthony Giddens defines globalisation as 'the intensification of world-wide social relations, which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa' (1990, p. 64).

A very recent example of this can be demonstrated by analysing the huge Australian media coverage devoted to the birth of the child of the Royal Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine.

Reporters of major Australian television networks, such as Channel Nine and Channel Seven, joined dozens, perhaps hundreds, of foreign counterparts camped outside the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was due to give birth. 

The worldwide media snapping photos and capturing footage of the moment
 the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge present their newborn to the public.
(Source: Stuart C. Wilson/Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

After weeks of waiting, once Catherine had given birth to a baby boy, the Australian networks flashed the news across lounge room televisions throughout the nation with almost immediate effect.

Australian broadcasters -- as well as, arguably, its audiences -- were susceptible to the happenings of Catherine's pregnancy, despite the fact it was all occurring thousands of kilometres away on the other side of the world.

But the media is just one of a number of various forms of global flows -- or 'scapes', as alluded to by Arjun Appadurai -- affecting social relations in diverse and distinct locations.

Appadurai termed five such dimensions of global cultural flow: (1) ethnoscapes; (2) mediascapes; (3) technoscapes; (4) finanscapes; and (5) ideoscapes.

The ethnoscape dimension is one that has been particularly influential on the life of my mother-in-law, Lejla, who is a citizen and resident of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Appadurai sees ethnoscapes as:

'...the landscape of persons who constitute the shifting world in which we live: tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles, guestworkers and other moving groups and persons constitute an essential feature of the world and appear to affect the politics of (and between) nations to a hitherto unprecedented degree' (1998, p. 7).

'Stop mass immigration!': Switzerland is one nation that
has sought to restrict the number of foreigners it allows
to reside within its borders. (Source: joelschalit.com)

Due to the difficulties of obtaining work in Bosnia, where the unemployment rate sits at an estimated 43.3%, Lejla has found it more fruitful to gain occasional employment a few nation-states away in Switzerland, where the rate of unemployment is a mere 2.9%, and the average wage much higher (Central Intelligence Agency 2013a; Central Intelligence Agency 2013b).

However, due to recent political manoeuvring in the Western European state, Lejla may find it difficult to continue working away from home.

In April 2013, Switzerland announced it was planning on restricting European immigration into the nation, by way of limiting the quantity of residency permits it distributes. A mass-influx of immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria has apparently played a major role in affecting this decision (Al Jazeera 2013). 

Such action is a glaring example of what Appadurai was referring to when he mentioned the potential effects to nation-state politics that can result from the inward movement of persons from outside its boundaries.

Moreover, this issue doesn't appear to be diminishing any time soon.

If people like my mother-in-law are unable to obtain acceptable employment in their home nations, they will increasingly seek alternative options in other localities. 

References:

Al Jazeera 2013. 'Switzerland restricts EU immigration', 24 April, retrieved 27 July 2013, <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/04/201342420555521299.html>

Appadurai, A 1998. 'Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy', Public Culture, vol. 2, pp. 1-24.

Central Intelligence Agency 2013a, 'The World Factbook: Bosnia and Herzegovina', retrieved 27 July 2013, <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html>

Central Intelligence Agency 2013b, 'The World Factbook: Switzerland', retrieved 27 July 2013, <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sz.html>

Giddens, A 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford University Press: Stanford, CT.

Introduction

Hi everyone,

For those who don't know me, my name is Rusty Woodger and I am a 21-year-old journalism student from Deakin University, Australia.

This blog has been created for the purpose of a subject revolving around globalisation and media.

Given my passion for media and my time spent overseas experiencing different cultures, I am really keen to undertake this unit and am particularly excited about regularly updating this blog.

For those interested in checking out some of my previous work, you can visit a blog I had set up whilst living in Bosnia-Herzegovina for a year (2012-2013): 'An Aussie In Bosnia' (I know, real original). Partly thanks to some plugs it received on a number of major Balkan news portals, the blog has received more than 50,000 views since it began in mid-2012.

Cheers and I look forward to interacting with you over the coming months!