Chiara Minestrelli | London Collage Of Communication (original) (raw)

Books by Chiara Minestrelli

This book investigates the discursive and performative strategies employed by Australian Indigeno... more This book investigates the discursive and performative strategies employed by Australian Indigenous rappers to make sense of the world and establish a position of authority over their identity and place in society. Focusing on the aesthetics, the language, and the performativity of Hip Hop, this book pays attention to the life stance, the philosophy, and the spiritual beliefs of Australian Indigenous Hip Hop artists as ‘glocal’ producers and consumers. With Hip Hop as its main point of analysis, the author investigates, interrogates, and challenges categories and preconceived ideas about the critical notions of authenticity, ‘Indigenous’ and dominant values, spiritual practices, and political activism. Maintaining the emphasis on the importance of adopting decolonizing research strategies, the author utilises qualitative and ethnographic methods of data collection, such as semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, participant observation, and fieldwork notes. Collaborators and participants shed light on some of the dynamics underlying their musical decisions and their view within discussions on representations of ‘Indigenous identity and politics’. Looking at the Indigenous rappers’ local and global aspirations, this study shows that, by counteracting hegemonic narratives through their unique stories, Indigenous rappers have utilised Hip Hop as an expressive means to empower themselves and their audiences, entertain, and revive their Elders’ culture in ways that are contextual to the society they live in.

Papers by Chiara Minestrelli

Transmotion, 2024

The emergence of computer-generated technologies and their increasing affordability has been welc... more The emergence of computer-generated technologies and their increasing affordability has been welcomed with enthusiasm and it is now reaching maturity across different sectors, from the scientific and technological field to educational and recreational contexts. With an eye on its criticalities, this paper reflects on the ways in which VR can be used to engage with Indigenous artefacts and knowledge(s). Primarily, this work looks at VR as a symbolic and concrete space for the reconfiguration of Indigenous storytelling and the mapping of new cartographies. It does so by reflecting on the possibilities and limitations of a collaborative project that investigates the potential of VR to tell stories through objects (through the mobilisation of strong affective responses), transmit knowledge and educate.
The project is a collaborative venture between the author, an Italian scholar based in London, a Greek scholar and VR artist based in London, a London-based Sierra Leonian artist and a Torres Strait Islander artist who resides in Australia. The identities of the people involved in the project are key to understanding VR as a space for dialogue, and a place to think about the situated and subjective practices which are embodied and embedded in the narrative and structure of the VR experience itself. Therefore, we have embraced Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s approach to decolonising methodologies, together with community-based participatory research as key frameworks to understanding intercultural collaboration, the handling of Indigenous knowledges, intellectual property, data sovereignty, and the digitisation of tangible and intangible Indigenous cultural heritage.
Investigations into the uses of VR in maintaining cultural heritage and Indigenous cultural artefacts have been undertaken by some scholars (see Newell, for instance), but more research needs to be done to shed light on the complexities of working with these technologies in terms of access, sustainability and effective change. This paper thus looks at VR as a platform for Indigenous communities across cultures to think about sustainable futures as old and new challenges intervene in cultural maintenance, transmission and revitalisation. Within this context, spatial elements and trajectories of Indigenous artefacts that have been removed from their original place of use to travel to the heart of the Empire have been considered. Yet, while here we are not directly engaging with the role of museums and demands of repatriation, we nevertheless argue that ‘digital/virtual reconnections’ could be the first step towards encouraging the younger generations to engage and/or re-engage with aspects of culture that may feel distant. Moving beyond the concept of digital repatriation, the term ‘reconnections’ captures the possibilities of VR in terms of agency, maintenance, revival and reintegration of important cultural objects/knowledges. The Bondo Mask in Sierra Leone and the Turtle Shell mask in the Torres Strait Islands carry with them deep transcultural and cross-cultural meanings, practices and traditions that VR technologies and environments can help revive.
Thus, this work sets out to further investigate if and how immersive virtual approaches to Indigenous cultures can strengthen a sense of community and pride in cultural identity while healing transgenerational fractures and reviving deep-seated traditions so as to move confidently towards the future. Through a series of critical ethnographic methods, two of the researchers have and will continue to carry out investigations and fieldwork within their communities of origin in an effort to gather direct testimonies and guidelines from Elders and community members to shape the project in ways that are meaningful and contextual.

Constructing knowledge: curriculum studies in action, 2014

Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has constituted a pressing issue for Indigenous communities in Austr... more Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has constituted a pressing issue for Indigenous communities in Australia since the 1980s. Yet, despite the constant demands for justice raised by Indigenous leaders and activists, this problem rose to public prominence in June 2020, as demonstrations against police brutality spread around the globe in response to the murder of George Floyd. The events of Minneapolis struck a chord with the many Australian Indigenous families and communities who had lost their loved ones to police violence, sparking a series of protests across Australia's major urban centres. Thus, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, like never before, came together both online and in person to demonstrate solidarity and stand with the Black Lives Matter movement while exposing the very local plight of Black Deaths in Custody. In particular, digital platforms have played a key role in the framing of alternative narratives. Hence, drawing from Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Appraisal Theory, with references to Linda Tuhiwai Smith's work on decolonising methodologies, this paper examines the online rhetorical and visual strategies adopted by Indigenous activists to protest the loss of 'Blak' lives in police custody. Primarily, I have looked at the website and Facebook page Stop Black Deaths in Custody, along with the digital materials circulated on social media by Indigenous activist groups. Of particular interest is the media work of Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (W.A.R.), a collective of young Aboriginal men and women who have been at the forefront of the BLM protests in Australia. The findings reflect the transnational dimension of the communicative tactics employed to mobilise local and global publics. Indeed, the resources used by Indigenous activists aim to establish affective resonances, gathering national and international support to effect meaningful change.

The notions of 'Country' and 'Land' lie deep at the heart of Indigenous epistemologies and ontolo... more The notions of 'Country' and 'Land' lie deep at the heart of Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, and this is true for both Indigenous peoples who live in remote communities and those who reside in Australia's urban centres. Country and Land are more than a geographical location; they are highly complex notions that shape understandings of identity and wellbeing for Australian First Nations. Yet, the age of the 'Anthropos' suddenly introduced into the continent by settler colonialism brought about drastic changes and new configurations within the relationship between 'life' and 'nonlife', ownership and stewardship. Such relations are constantly negotiated and debated as Indigenous communities strive to protect their homes, claim their land back and reconnect to Country using the means at their disposal. Digital technology, in particular, has become a very important tool in the hands of Indigenous communities over the past decade. Many are the projects that use digital technologies and platforms, from applications like #Thismymob (Digital Land Rights Project) to Kurdiji 1.0, the 3D animations of the Wunungu Awara project, and the work of the Karrabing Collective, just to mention a few. Looking at the narratives portrayed in the filmography of the Karrabing Collective from a multimodal perspective, and with a primary focus on the film Wutharr, this article explores approaches to Country and Land as mediated via the digital. Through these examples and case study, I thus argue that the digital provides a productive terrain to challenge current configurations of Land management, while proposing new forms of sovereignty, from the digital to the real. In order to better support these claims, I have embraced a theoretical framework that draws from Indigenous knowledges and methods, posthuman critical theory and geontologies.

This essay explores issues of Indigenous resilience in the city. Primarily I am looking at the wa... more This essay explores issues of Indigenous resilience in the city. Primarily I am looking at the ways in which young Indigenous people’s discourses—understood in a Foucauldian perspective—can be inscribed into wider discussions on cultural continuity across the generations. In particular, I will examine how Indigenous youth in south-eastern and eastern Australia make sense of their surrounding reality through rap music. In what way are young Indigenous rap artists who live in urban areas reshaping the socio-cultural geography of Australian society and its sustainability? The Brundtland Commission (WCED 1987) has defined sustainability as that ‘practice’ that envisages and encompasses the participation of various social actors, principally within urban environments. According to this view, together with demographic shifts showing significant growth in the Indigenous section of the population, notions of urban and cultural sustainability have become extremely relevant. In this regard, s...

Lexington Books, May 1, 2020

This chapter engages in a critical analysis of urban inequalities as they are experienced at the ... more This chapter engages in a critical analysis of urban inequalities as they are experienced at the juncture of the local and the global. I do so by discussing a collaborative project based in London, called Sonic Futures, that resulted from cooperation between the London College of Communication (LCC) and May Project Gardens, a community organization. The project was conceptualized as a way to support students in their academic endeavors by combining participatory action research1 (Selener, 1997; Ulvik, Riese, & Roness, 2018) with hip-hop music and critical pedagogies. These theoretical aspects were coupled with gardening, a practical activity that allowed participants to reflect on several local themes within this global city, including social justice, diversity, and sustainability. As unusual as it may sound, these disparate elements worked well together, prompting participants to question social structures and the inequalities they generate, alongside considerations of well-being and community formation. Funded by the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund at LCC, this innovative approach to understanding urban spaces and inequalities concretized in a series of five workshops that took place between October 2018 and April 2019. The activities were open to students from both LCC and London South Bank University (LSBU), another partner in this venture. The original aim of the workshops was to support student attainment, retention, and engagement in academic activities. Yet, despite the original goal to support students who might be struggling and unprepared, the students who participated were all international students from relatively privileged backgrounds. As a consequence, while maintaining a keen interest in exploring how pedagogical practices could respond to student needs, one of the questions at the heart of the workshops shifted to reflect on the positionality of instructors and students. As we all shared some experiences of migration, this reflexivity allowed us to examine the complex urban inequalities framed by the many migratory movements visible within London. Considering the location of LCC and LSBU, we decided to concentrate primarily on the area where both universities are located: Elephant and Castle in South London, within the Borough of Southwark (see figure 9.1). The workshops made connections between past and present within this site, seeking to make sense of the ways in which resources were distributed, the means by which communities gathered, and how various urban processes that produced "new (in some cases expansive, in some restrictive) notions of membership and solidarity" (Holston & Appadurai, 1999, p. 189) within this global city. The question of urban inequality was central to the workshops and was approached from two angles. First, the workshops bore testimony to the very structures of inequalities that underlie differentiated access to spaces and resources within the global city, seen in the inability to recruit local undergraduate students from marginalized backgrounds.2 The students who did participate were all graduate students from different regions of the

Sense Publisher, 2014

This work investigates the political power of Indigenous Hip Hop as a tool to assert active citiz... more This work investigates the political power of Indigenous Hip Hop as a tool to assert active citizenry within the Australian public sphere

This chapter employs Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality to analyse the discursive (bot... more This chapter employs Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality to analyse the discursive (both verbal and visual) strategies used to frame Indigeneity in a post-Howard society

Routledge, 2018

In an era of decentering globalizing forces that continuously shift the locale of cultural produc... more In an era of decentering globalizing forces that continuously shift the locale of cultural production and consumption from global markets to local realities and vice versa, music has come to play a crucial role in redefining the value of regional discourses. Hip hop music, 2 with its long and solid history of indigenization in different parts of the globe, has provided marginalized and stigmatized communities around the world with accessible "artistic tools" of self-expression. Tony Mitchell (2001), Samy H. Alim, Awad and Pennycook (2009), Sujatha Fernandes (2011) and more recently Christopher Malone and George Martinez (2014), amongst others, have explored the multifaceted and compelling expressivity of "glocal" discourses articulated through hip hop. Many are the local stories of struggle and empowerment that have gained global recognition thanks to the new media. Recent emblematic cases of this movement from the local to the global are well represented by three distinct and yet interrelated cases that testify the power of hip hop as an amplifier for unique stories. The first example is that Sonita Alizadeh, a young Afghani girl who used her personal experience to convey a message of dissent against the issue of child marriage with a hip hop track called "Brides for Sale" (2014). In a similar fashion, with the track "Kodaikanal Won't" (2015) a young Indian Tamil woman, Sofia Ashraf, launched her protest against the pollution of Kodaikanal (India) caused by the multinational company Unilever. Fitting into a similar "template," Kylie Sambo, a young Indigenous activist from Australia's Northern Territory, released the track "Muckaty" (2010),3 where she lamented the Australian govern-ment's decision to create a nuclear waste dump on Indigenous land. Thanks to the visibility acquired on the social media, Sambo was invited to several events to raise awareness about the issue.

Association of Alumni in Modern Languages and Literatures, Nov 30, 2009

This book represents the culmination of the project ‘The European Public Sphere(s): Uniting or Di... more This book represents the culmination of the project ‘The European Public Sphere(s): Uniting or Dividing?’, funded by the Academy of Finland (2005–2007). The project aimed to explore a possible common European public sphere and its practical implications.

Sound Studies, 2020

and its culture of sound production. The conclusion, in particular, offers a perceptive “zoom out... more and its culture of sound production. The conclusion, in particular, offers a perceptive “zoom out” for how this study of early radio and its dominant production practices can be understood in larger frameworks of mediamaking, in terms of worker professionalisation and legitimation, as well as how the study contributes to a longer history of modern soundwork, in which early radio’s sound aesthetics provide a legacy spanning to the present-day.

This article is interested in issues of reading and interpreting Indigenous Australian literature... more This article is interested in issues of reading and interpreting Indigenous Australian literature with reference to the role played by language in shaping identities throughout novels written by Australian Indigenous writers. In particular, the analysis will focus on excerpts from Kim Scott’s Benang: From the Heart (1999). The article’s linguistic analysis will be based on the tenets of functionalist approaches and partnership theory. The novel’s biographical background further contextualises the analysis of traumatic past experiences and their role in the formation of an “Indigenous identity”.

Focusing on the critical expression ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’, this thesis investigates the... more Focusing on the critical expression ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’, this thesis investigates the meanings generated by this expression through the discursive strategies employed by those rappers who identify as Indigenous and whose music has been labelled ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’ by virtue of its lyrics, musical style and the rappers’ public image. Elaborating on this aspect, the thesis’s argument develops around two distinct, and yet deeply intertwined, semantic areas: the politics of identity and the political power of ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’. Engaging in a discussion around these aspects, the thesis investigates the complexities inherent in the discourses produced by Indigenous rappers through their music and validated by their direct testimonies. Collaborators and participants shed light on some of the dynamics underlying their musical decisions and their position within discussions on representations of ‘Indigenous identity and politics’. Maintaining a focus on ...

This book investigates the discursive and performative strategies employed by Australian Indigeno... more This book investigates the discursive and performative strategies employed by Australian Indigenous rappers to make sense of the world and establish a position of authority over their identity and place in society. Focusing on the aesthetics, the language, and the performativity of Hip Hop, this book pays attention to the life stance, the philosophy, and the spiritual beliefs of Australian Indigenous Hip Hop artists as ‘glocal’ producers and consumers. With Hip Hop as its main point of analysis, the author investigates, interrogates, and challenges categories and preconceived ideas about the critical notions of authenticity, ‘Indigenous’ and dominant values, spiritual practices, and political activism. Maintaining the emphasis on the importance of adopting decolonizing research strategies, the author utilises qualitative and ethnographic methods of data collection, such as semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, participant observation, and fieldwork notes. Collaborators and participants shed light on some of the dynamics underlying their musical decisions and their view within discussions on representations of ‘Indigenous identity and politics’. Looking at the Indigenous rappers’ local and global aspirations, this study shows that, by counteracting hegemonic narratives through their unique stories, Indigenous rappers have utilised Hip Hop as an expressive means to empower themselves and their audiences, entertain, and revive their Elders’ culture in ways that are contextual to the society they live in.

Transmotion, 2024

The emergence of computer-generated technologies and their increasing affordability has been welc... more The emergence of computer-generated technologies and their increasing affordability has been welcomed with enthusiasm and it is now reaching maturity across different sectors, from the scientific and technological field to educational and recreational contexts. With an eye on its criticalities, this paper reflects on the ways in which VR can be used to engage with Indigenous artefacts and knowledge(s). Primarily, this work looks at VR as a symbolic and concrete space for the reconfiguration of Indigenous storytelling and the mapping of new cartographies. It does so by reflecting on the possibilities and limitations of a collaborative project that investigates the potential of VR to tell stories through objects (through the mobilisation of strong affective responses), transmit knowledge and educate.
The project is a collaborative venture between the author, an Italian scholar based in London, a Greek scholar and VR artist based in London, a London-based Sierra Leonian artist and a Torres Strait Islander artist who resides in Australia. The identities of the people involved in the project are key to understanding VR as a space for dialogue, and a place to think about the situated and subjective practices which are embodied and embedded in the narrative and structure of the VR experience itself. Therefore, we have embraced Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s approach to decolonising methodologies, together with community-based participatory research as key frameworks to understanding intercultural collaboration, the handling of Indigenous knowledges, intellectual property, data sovereignty, and the digitisation of tangible and intangible Indigenous cultural heritage.
Investigations into the uses of VR in maintaining cultural heritage and Indigenous cultural artefacts have been undertaken by some scholars (see Newell, for instance), but more research needs to be done to shed light on the complexities of working with these technologies in terms of access, sustainability and effective change. This paper thus looks at VR as a platform for Indigenous communities across cultures to think about sustainable futures as old and new challenges intervene in cultural maintenance, transmission and revitalisation. Within this context, spatial elements and trajectories of Indigenous artefacts that have been removed from their original place of use to travel to the heart of the Empire have been considered. Yet, while here we are not directly engaging with the role of museums and demands of repatriation, we nevertheless argue that ‘digital/virtual reconnections’ could be the first step towards encouraging the younger generations to engage and/or re-engage with aspects of culture that may feel distant. Moving beyond the concept of digital repatriation, the term ‘reconnections’ captures the possibilities of VR in terms of agency, maintenance, revival and reintegration of important cultural objects/knowledges. The Bondo Mask in Sierra Leone and the Turtle Shell mask in the Torres Strait Islands carry with them deep transcultural and cross-cultural meanings, practices and traditions that VR technologies and environments can help revive.
Thus, this work sets out to further investigate if and how immersive virtual approaches to Indigenous cultures can strengthen a sense of community and pride in cultural identity while healing transgenerational fractures and reviving deep-seated traditions so as to move confidently towards the future. Through a series of critical ethnographic methods, two of the researchers have and will continue to carry out investigations and fieldwork within their communities of origin in an effort to gather direct testimonies and guidelines from Elders and community members to shape the project in ways that are meaningful and contextual.

Constructing knowledge: curriculum studies in action, 2014

Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has constituted a pressing issue for Indigenous communities in Austr... more Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has constituted a pressing issue for Indigenous communities in Australia since the 1980s. Yet, despite the constant demands for justice raised by Indigenous leaders and activists, this problem rose to public prominence in June 2020, as demonstrations against police brutality spread around the globe in response to the murder of George Floyd. The events of Minneapolis struck a chord with the many Australian Indigenous families and communities who had lost their loved ones to police violence, sparking a series of protests across Australia's major urban centres. Thus, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, like never before, came together both online and in person to demonstrate solidarity and stand with the Black Lives Matter movement while exposing the very local plight of Black Deaths in Custody. In particular, digital platforms have played a key role in the framing of alternative narratives. Hence, drawing from Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Appraisal Theory, with references to Linda Tuhiwai Smith's work on decolonising methodologies, this paper examines the online rhetorical and visual strategies adopted by Indigenous activists to protest the loss of 'Blak' lives in police custody. Primarily, I have looked at the website and Facebook page Stop Black Deaths in Custody, along with the digital materials circulated on social media by Indigenous activist groups. Of particular interest is the media work of Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (W.A.R.), a collective of young Aboriginal men and women who have been at the forefront of the BLM protests in Australia. The findings reflect the transnational dimension of the communicative tactics employed to mobilise local and global publics. Indeed, the resources used by Indigenous activists aim to establish affective resonances, gathering national and international support to effect meaningful change.

The notions of 'Country' and 'Land' lie deep at the heart of Indigenous epistemologies and ontolo... more The notions of 'Country' and 'Land' lie deep at the heart of Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, and this is true for both Indigenous peoples who live in remote communities and those who reside in Australia's urban centres. Country and Land are more than a geographical location; they are highly complex notions that shape understandings of identity and wellbeing for Australian First Nations. Yet, the age of the 'Anthropos' suddenly introduced into the continent by settler colonialism brought about drastic changes and new configurations within the relationship between 'life' and 'nonlife', ownership and stewardship. Such relations are constantly negotiated and debated as Indigenous communities strive to protect their homes, claim their land back and reconnect to Country using the means at their disposal. Digital technology, in particular, has become a very important tool in the hands of Indigenous communities over the past decade. Many are the projects that use digital technologies and platforms, from applications like #Thismymob (Digital Land Rights Project) to Kurdiji 1.0, the 3D animations of the Wunungu Awara project, and the work of the Karrabing Collective, just to mention a few. Looking at the narratives portrayed in the filmography of the Karrabing Collective from a multimodal perspective, and with a primary focus on the film Wutharr, this article explores approaches to Country and Land as mediated via the digital. Through these examples and case study, I thus argue that the digital provides a productive terrain to challenge current configurations of Land management, while proposing new forms of sovereignty, from the digital to the real. In order to better support these claims, I have embraced a theoretical framework that draws from Indigenous knowledges and methods, posthuman critical theory and geontologies.

This essay explores issues of Indigenous resilience in the city. Primarily I am looking at the wa... more This essay explores issues of Indigenous resilience in the city. Primarily I am looking at the ways in which young Indigenous people’s discourses—understood in a Foucauldian perspective—can be inscribed into wider discussions on cultural continuity across the generations. In particular, I will examine how Indigenous youth in south-eastern and eastern Australia make sense of their surrounding reality through rap music. In what way are young Indigenous rap artists who live in urban areas reshaping the socio-cultural geography of Australian society and its sustainability? The Brundtland Commission (WCED 1987) has defined sustainability as that ‘practice’ that envisages and encompasses the participation of various social actors, principally within urban environments. According to this view, together with demographic shifts showing significant growth in the Indigenous section of the population, notions of urban and cultural sustainability have become extremely relevant. In this regard, s...

Lexington Books, May 1, 2020

This chapter engages in a critical analysis of urban inequalities as they are experienced at the ... more This chapter engages in a critical analysis of urban inequalities as they are experienced at the juncture of the local and the global. I do so by discussing a collaborative project based in London, called Sonic Futures, that resulted from cooperation between the London College of Communication (LCC) and May Project Gardens, a community organization. The project was conceptualized as a way to support students in their academic endeavors by combining participatory action research1 (Selener, 1997; Ulvik, Riese, & Roness, 2018) with hip-hop music and critical pedagogies. These theoretical aspects were coupled with gardening, a practical activity that allowed participants to reflect on several local themes within this global city, including social justice, diversity, and sustainability. As unusual as it may sound, these disparate elements worked well together, prompting participants to question social structures and the inequalities they generate, alongside considerations of well-being and community formation. Funded by the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund at LCC, this innovative approach to understanding urban spaces and inequalities concretized in a series of five workshops that took place between October 2018 and April 2019. The activities were open to students from both LCC and London South Bank University (LSBU), another partner in this venture. The original aim of the workshops was to support student attainment, retention, and engagement in academic activities. Yet, despite the original goal to support students who might be struggling and unprepared, the students who participated were all international students from relatively privileged backgrounds. As a consequence, while maintaining a keen interest in exploring how pedagogical practices could respond to student needs, one of the questions at the heart of the workshops shifted to reflect on the positionality of instructors and students. As we all shared some experiences of migration, this reflexivity allowed us to examine the complex urban inequalities framed by the many migratory movements visible within London. Considering the location of LCC and LSBU, we decided to concentrate primarily on the area where both universities are located: Elephant and Castle in South London, within the Borough of Southwark (see figure 9.1). The workshops made connections between past and present within this site, seeking to make sense of the ways in which resources were distributed, the means by which communities gathered, and how various urban processes that produced "new (in some cases expansive, in some restrictive) notions of membership and solidarity" (Holston & Appadurai, 1999, p. 189) within this global city. The question of urban inequality was central to the workshops and was approached from two angles. First, the workshops bore testimony to the very structures of inequalities that underlie differentiated access to spaces and resources within the global city, seen in the inability to recruit local undergraduate students from marginalized backgrounds.2 The students who did participate were all graduate students from different regions of the

Sense Publisher, 2014

This work investigates the political power of Indigenous Hip Hop as a tool to assert active citiz... more This work investigates the political power of Indigenous Hip Hop as a tool to assert active citizenry within the Australian public sphere

This chapter employs Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality to analyse the discursive (bot... more This chapter employs Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality to analyse the discursive (both verbal and visual) strategies used to frame Indigeneity in a post-Howard society

Routledge, 2018

In an era of decentering globalizing forces that continuously shift the locale of cultural produc... more In an era of decentering globalizing forces that continuously shift the locale of cultural production and consumption from global markets to local realities and vice versa, music has come to play a crucial role in redefining the value of regional discourses. Hip hop music, 2 with its long and solid history of indigenization in different parts of the globe, has provided marginalized and stigmatized communities around the world with accessible "artistic tools" of self-expression. Tony Mitchell (2001), Samy H. Alim, Awad and Pennycook (2009), Sujatha Fernandes (2011) and more recently Christopher Malone and George Martinez (2014), amongst others, have explored the multifaceted and compelling expressivity of "glocal" discourses articulated through hip hop. Many are the local stories of struggle and empowerment that have gained global recognition thanks to the new media. Recent emblematic cases of this movement from the local to the global are well represented by three distinct and yet interrelated cases that testify the power of hip hop as an amplifier for unique stories. The first example is that Sonita Alizadeh, a young Afghani girl who used her personal experience to convey a message of dissent against the issue of child marriage with a hip hop track called "Brides for Sale" (2014). In a similar fashion, with the track "Kodaikanal Won't" (2015) a young Indian Tamil woman, Sofia Ashraf, launched her protest against the pollution of Kodaikanal (India) caused by the multinational company Unilever. Fitting into a similar "template," Kylie Sambo, a young Indigenous activist from Australia's Northern Territory, released the track "Muckaty" (2010),3 where she lamented the Australian govern-ment's decision to create a nuclear waste dump on Indigenous land. Thanks to the visibility acquired on the social media, Sambo was invited to several events to raise awareness about the issue.

Association of Alumni in Modern Languages and Literatures, Nov 30, 2009

This book represents the culmination of the project ‘The European Public Sphere(s): Uniting or Di... more This book represents the culmination of the project ‘The European Public Sphere(s): Uniting or Dividing?’, funded by the Academy of Finland (2005–2007). The project aimed to explore a possible common European public sphere and its practical implications.

Sound Studies, 2020

and its culture of sound production. The conclusion, in particular, offers a perceptive “zoom out... more and its culture of sound production. The conclusion, in particular, offers a perceptive “zoom out” for how this study of early radio and its dominant production practices can be understood in larger frameworks of mediamaking, in terms of worker professionalisation and legitimation, as well as how the study contributes to a longer history of modern soundwork, in which early radio’s sound aesthetics provide a legacy spanning to the present-day.

This article is interested in issues of reading and interpreting Indigenous Australian literature... more This article is interested in issues of reading and interpreting Indigenous Australian literature with reference to the role played by language in shaping identities throughout novels written by Australian Indigenous writers. In particular, the analysis will focus on excerpts from Kim Scott’s Benang: From the Heart (1999). The article’s linguistic analysis will be based on the tenets of functionalist approaches and partnership theory. The novel’s biographical background further contextualises the analysis of traumatic past experiences and their role in the formation of an “Indigenous identity”.

Focusing on the critical expression ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’, this thesis investigates the... more Focusing on the critical expression ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’, this thesis investigates the meanings generated by this expression through the discursive strategies employed by those rappers who identify as Indigenous and whose music has been labelled ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’ by virtue of its lyrics, musical style and the rappers’ public image. Elaborating on this aspect, the thesis’s argument develops around two distinct, and yet deeply intertwined, semantic areas: the politics of identity and the political power of ‘Indigenous/Aboriginal Hip Hop’. Engaging in a discussion around these aspects, the thesis investigates the complexities inherent in the discourses produced by Indigenous rappers through their music and validated by their direct testimonies. Collaborators and participants shed light on some of the dynamics underlying their musical decisions and their position within discussions on representations of ‘Indigenous identity and politics’. Maintaining a focus on ...

Discourse & Communication, 2012

notions of vanity and self-deception, Martin argues that despite the perceived value of truthfuln... more notions of vanity and self-deception, Martin argues that despite the perceived value of truthfulness, those who are seemingly the most sincere may also be the most selfdeceived and, therefore, the most hypocritical. In ‘Accounts as Social Loopholes: Reconciling Contradictions between Culture and Conduct’ (Ch. 8), Shulman examines accounts people tell to legitimize their inappropriate behaviors and identifies four social loopholes: fading into commonality (e.g. deviance is expected), loss of personal control (e.g. deviance is biological), protection (e.g. lying protects others), and no alternative (e.g. acting under duress). Shulman argues that loopholes allow actors to ignore negative consequences of unacceptable behaviors. Similarly, in ‘“I Read Playboy for the Articles”: Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences’ (Ch. 9), Chance and Norton investigate strategies for coping with questionable behavior, finding that people justify their actions, remain unaware of the reasons for their own behavior, forget they decided to partake in questionable activities, or stay away from the behavior altogether. These strategies help an actor avoid feeling like an ‘unethical or immoral individual’ (p. 145), but the consequences may sacrifice truth for personal happiness. In ‘Lying for Love in the Modern Age: Deception in Online Dating’ (Ch. 10), Toma and Hancock examine the belief that online dating is rife with deception. In their revealing study, they find that daters are least likely to lie about ‘relationship deal-breakers’ (e.g. marital status) (p. 162); however, men are more likely to falsify their height, education, and occupation, and women are more likely to falsify their weight – features that are supposedly attractive to the opposite sex. Finally, Sternglanz’s ‘Exoneration of Serious Wrongdoing via Confession to a Lesser Offense’ (Ch. 11) presents three interesting studies on appearances of guilt and innocence. Sternglanz finds that when retelling an accusation of wrongdoing, friends appear less guilty than strangers, men appear more innocent when offering no defense against the accusation, and women lessen their appearance of guilt by admitting to a non-related lesser offense. Admitting to a related lesser offense lowers all participants’ levels of apparent guilt – a finding that should be further researched to aid criminal justice professionals. Overall, this is an excellent volume, but one note about generalizability must be made: the studies were frequently conducted in inauthentic settings and/or included low participant numbers. Thus, results must be interpreted within these constraints. However, the goal of presenting truth and deception as non-dichotomous constructs is highly successful; as such, scholars across disciplines will find valuable research upon which to build in this original compilation.

This book represents the culmination of the project ‘The European Public Sphere(s): Uniting or Di... more This book represents the culmination of the project ‘The European Public Sphere(s): Uniting or Dividing?’, funded by the Academy of Finland (2005–2007). The project aimed to explore a possible common European public sphere and its practical implications.

The Everyday Life of Urban Inequality, 2020

This chapter provides a brief ethnographic account of a collaborative venture (Sonic Futures) bet... more This chapter provides a brief ethnographic account of a collaborative venture (Sonic Futures) between a higher education institution (London College of Communication, UAL, London) and a London-based community organisation (May Project Gardens) which combines Hip Hop music and performance with gardening. This pilot project explores the connections between social issues (e.g. social cohesion, participatory and sustainable practices and active citizenry, amongst others), politics, and identity formation at the intersection of class, ethnicity, race, gender and the environment. This chapter reflects on the complex socio-cultural, economic and political fabric of the super-diverse context of South London, looking at the ‘city’ in its potential to articulate particularistic discourses through its various microcosms, where new possibilities for action emerge and transcultural dimensions are envisioned. Thus, the city, with its different realities, provides a template for various forms of resistance, multiple aggregations, and unusual encounters.