Fragile Scenes: Metal, Rap, and Electro in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia

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Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Bennett, James
Other Supervisors
Barrett, Christine
Year published
2016
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The thesis analyses three youth cultures in contemporary Tunisia: metal, rap, and electro. Tunisia is a North-African country which has often been represented as a bridge between Europe and the Arab/Muslim world. It is a crossroad of cultural influences, and its complex situation of economic disadvantage and social inequality imposes peculiar conditions to the existence of local youth cultures and popular music scenes. Moreover, its history of dictatorship, and its 2011 revolution (which inaugurated the so-called Arab Springs), render it a locus of political and cultural struggle. For these reasons, the Tunisian context ...
View more >The thesis analyses three youth cultures in contemporary Tunisia: metal, rap, and electro. Tunisia is a North-African country which has often been represented as a bridge between Europe and the Arab/Muslim world. It is a crossroad of cultural influences, and its complex situation of economic disadvantage and social inequality imposes peculiar conditions to the existence of local youth cultures and popular music scenes. Moreover, its history of dictatorship, and its 2011 revolution (which inaugurated the so-called Arab Springs), render it a locus of political and cultural struggle. For these reasons, the Tunisian context offers the possibility of expanding the research on youth culture beyond the much-covered West. The thesis is built upon data coming from a fieldwork research that was carried out for eleven months between 2014 and 2015. Data were collected through interviews with 70 participants in the three scenes (musicians, concert organisers, venue managers, journalists, fans); through participant observations at concerts, DJ sets, and other sites of scene interaction; and through the analysis of textual data coming from Internet websites, song lyrics, newspapers, and the like.
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View more >The thesis analyses three youth cultures in contemporary Tunisia: metal, rap, and electro. Tunisia is a North-African country which has often been represented as a bridge between Europe and the Arab/Muslim world. It is a crossroad of cultural influences, and its complex situation of economic disadvantage and social inequality imposes peculiar conditions to the existence of local youth cultures and popular music scenes. Moreover, its history of dictatorship, and its 2011 revolution (which inaugurated the so-called Arab Springs), render it a locus of political and cultural struggle. For these reasons, the Tunisian context offers the possibility of expanding the research on youth culture beyond the much-covered West. The thesis is built upon data coming from a fieldwork research that was carried out for eleven months between 2014 and 2015. Data were collected through interviews with 70 participants in the three scenes (musicians, concert organisers, venue managers, journalists, fans); through participant observations at concerts, DJ sets, and other sites of scene interaction; and through the analysis of textual data coming from Internet websites, song lyrics, newspapers, and the like.
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Thesis Type
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Degree Program
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science
Copyright Statement
The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
Item Access Status
Public
Subject
Youth culture, Tunisia
Music, Tunisia
Rap music, Tunisia
Metal music, Tunisia