Author: Christopher Charles Dennis

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

Abstract: As scholars around the globe debate the shortcomings and virtues of economic and cultural globalization, I approach Afro-Colombian hip-hop as a form of testimony to study what young black Colombians -- as representatives of a generation at a global crossroads -- reveal about the challenges presented by globalization. Evidence indicates that globalization and neoliberal reform have aggravated socio-political ills through intensified warfare, poverty, income inequalities, massive displacement, and violence, among others. These circumstances, in turn, inform much of the Afro-Colombian testimony channeled through hip-hop. I maintain that the content of Afro-Colombian rap, and the circumstances that inspire it, support those who argue that ethnic-racial minorities in the peripheries of the world do not benefit from economic globalization and its anticipated rising tide of wealth and spread of human rights. The dissent and frustration expressed in this music point to youths who are aware that promises of economic distribution, democracy, tolerance, and cultural respect are not and cannot be for everyone. Globalization has also led to cultural transformations and changing ethnic identities, which are very evident among Afro-Colombian urban youth integrated into processes of economic modernization and cultural modernity. I examine various factors that currently interpellate Afro-Colombian ethnic identities constructed through music and its practice. These artists use hip-hop as a tool for establishing alliances with local and international communities, for embarking on professional and cultural activities, and for reworking ethnic identities. I specifically demonstrate how this transnational musical practice has been re-signified within the Colombian scenario to highlight the performers' ethnic-racial identities and the cultural significance of their localities. These performers are strategically appropriating and combining "foreign" elements together with "local" ones to celebrate their cultures, redefine localities and accentuate their "blackness." When asking whether this Afro-Colombian hip-hop, with its transcultured forms, leads to an autonomous culture or neocolonial dependence, I argue that it is simply too complex to fit into any sort of categorizations of binary analysis. In the end, we cannot understand Afro-Colombian hip-hop, its ever-changing cultural and musical forms, narrations and discourses, tensions and contradictions, without understanding Afro-Colombian histories and cultures and how they are affected by global processes.