Mwenda Ntarangwi
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040061
- eISBN:
- 9780252098260
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040061.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
To some, Christianity and hip hop seem antithetical. Not so in Kenya. There, the music of Julius Owino, AKA Juliani, blends faith and beats into a potent hip hop gospel aimed at a youth culture ...
More
To some, Christianity and hip hop seem antithetical. Not so in Kenya. There, the music of Julius Owino, AKA Juliani, blends faith and beats into a potent hip hop gospel aimed at a youth culture hungry for answers spiritual, material, and otherwise. This book explores the Kenyan hip hop scene through the lens of Juliani's life and career. A born-again Christian, Juliani produces work highlighting the tensions between hip hop's forceful self-expression and a pious approach to public life, even while contesting the basic presumptions of both. This book forges an uncommon collaboration with its subject that offers insights into Juliani's art and goals even as the book explores the author's own religious experience and subjective identity as an ethnographer. What emerges is an original contribution to the scholarship on hip hop's global impact and a passionate study of the music's role in shaping new ways of being Christian in Africa.Less
To some, Christianity and hip hop seem antithetical. Not so in Kenya. There, the music of Julius Owino, AKA Juliani, blends faith and beats into a potent hip hop gospel aimed at a youth culture hungry for answers spiritual, material, and otherwise. This book explores the Kenyan hip hop scene through the lens of Juliani's life and career. A born-again Christian, Juliani produces work highlighting the tensions between hip hop's forceful self-expression and a pious approach to public life, even while contesting the basic presumptions of both. This book forges an uncommon collaboration with its subject that offers insights into Juliani's art and goals even as the book explores the author's own religious experience and subjective identity as an ethnographer. What emerges is an original contribution to the scholarship on hip hop's global impact and a passionate study of the music's role in shaping new ways of being Christian in Africa.
Mwenda Ntarangwi
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040061
- eISBN:
- 9780252098260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040061.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This chapter summarizes in brief an ethnography which demonstrates a close collaboration between the subject and researcher; the role one hip hop artist plays in a counterdiscourse to Christianity's ...
More
This chapter summarizes in brief an ethnography which demonstrates a close collaboration between the subject and researcher; the role one hip hop artist plays in a counterdiscourse to Christianity's conservative posture in Kenya; a methodological approach that blurs any assumed distance between object and subject; and the intersections, overlaps, and collaborations that have taken place in the life and work of Julius Owino—more famously known as Juliani—as an artist and the author's own as the ethnographer. This chapter provides the groundwork for later discussion by briefly examining the life and career of Juliani as well as his own relationship with the author, and by providing overviews of the major themes underpinning this volume as a whole—hip hop, youth culture, and Christianity.Less
This chapter summarizes in brief an ethnography which demonstrates a close collaboration between the subject and researcher; the role one hip hop artist plays in a counterdiscourse to Christianity's conservative posture in Kenya; a methodological approach that blurs any assumed distance between object and subject; and the intersections, overlaps, and collaborations that have taken place in the life and work of Julius Owino—more famously known as Juliani—as an artist and the author's own as the ethnographer. This chapter provides the groundwork for later discussion by briefly examining the life and career of Juliani as well as his own relationship with the author, and by providing overviews of the major themes underpinning this volume as a whole—hip hop, youth culture, and Christianity.
Mwenda Ntarangwi
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040061
- eISBN:
- 9780252098260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040061.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This concluding chapter contains reflections on the parallels and intersections occurring throughout the major themes discussed in the book, the author's own life and that of Juliani's, Kenyan and ...
More
This concluding chapter contains reflections on the parallels and intersections occurring throughout the major themes discussed in the book, the author's own life and that of Juliani's, Kenyan and U.S. popular culture, and of course, Christianity and hip hop. It also contains a brief survey of public opinion generated through social media regarding Juliani and his importance as a Christian hip hop artist. As a genre, hip hop combines the creativity of individual artists with the global relevance of its message. The same can be said of Christianity, where individual convictions resonate with the sensibilities of many. The chapter emphasizes the parallels and intersections between the two, before concluding with some final reflections on Juliani's impact as a Christian hip hop artist.Less
This concluding chapter contains reflections on the parallels and intersections occurring throughout the major themes discussed in the book, the author's own life and that of Juliani's, Kenyan and U.S. popular culture, and of course, Christianity and hip hop. It also contains a brief survey of public opinion generated through social media regarding Juliani and his importance as a Christian hip hop artist. As a genre, hip hop combines the creativity of individual artists with the global relevance of its message. The same can be said of Christianity, where individual convictions resonate with the sensibilities of many. The chapter emphasizes the parallels and intersections between the two, before concluding with some final reflections on Juliani's impact as a Christian hip hop artist.
