Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth

8 September 2008 |1.30 pm | Academiezaal Aula, Comeniuslaan 2, Radboud University Nijmegen

Supervisors: Prof. dr. C.H.M. Versteegh, prof. dr. A.I. Tayob (University of Capetown)
Co-supervisor: dr. K. van Nieuwkerk

Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth is the Ph.D study by Miriam Gazzah. It is a comprehensive anthropological study of the social significance of music among Dutch-Moroccan youth. In the Netherlands, a Dutch-Moroccan music scene has emerged, including events and websites. Dutch-Moroccan youth are often pioneers in the Dutch hiphop scene, using music as a tool to identify with or distance themselves from others. They (re)present and position themselves in society through music and musical activities. The chapters in this study deal with the development of the Dutch-Moroccan music scene, the construction of Dutch-Moroccan identity, the impact of Islam on female artists and the way Dutch- Moroccan rappers react to stereotypes about Moroccans. All along, Dutch society, its struggles with multiculturalism and its debates on integration, the position of Islam and fear of terrorism, form the backdrop to this story.

Miriam Gazzah has studied Mediterranean studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen. She graduated in 2001. Her MA thesis focused on the development of the raï music subculture in Algeria. Between 2003 and 2007 she was a PhD Fellow at International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) in Leiden and the Radboud University Nijmegen.

Venue: Academiezaal Aula, Comeniuslaan 2, Radboud University Nijmegen

Supervisors: Prof. dr. C.H.M. Versteegh, prof. dr. A.I. Tayob (University of Capetown)
Co-supervisor: dr. K. van Nieuwkerk