BB

This is an abstract for an upcoming anthropology conference I'll hopefully be contributing in:

From The Bronx to Japan: An Analysis of Hip-Hop and Globalization

Hip-hop has seen tremendous growth, both economically and culturally, on a global scale, making it a prime source for the study of globalization. Previous studies on the globalization of hip-hop have emphasized the need to view how a media form, such as hip-hop, is localized to a new region. Anthropologists, such as Ian Condry, have offered great insight into the role of Anthropology and actual site ethnographic research in seeing first-hand how various cultures actually interact with these media flows, despite pervasive theories of cultural imperialism. However, previous studies fail to recognize the regionalization that occurs before an art form even leaves its origin, treating hip-hop as a stagnant, non-organic package being delivered to a new culture. This neglects to acknowledge the adaptive nature of these media flows, which leads to a superficial understanding of the descent of the art form and ultimately to a shallow comprehension of how global cultures interact with media flows. In this presentation, I seek to illustrate how thoroughly researching the evolution of hip-hop provides a more exact view of how global cultures interact with it.