@article{Ghose:298395,
      recid = {298395},
      author = {Ghose, Paroma Raya},
      title = {"Silence... on est en France" a rap history of the 'other'  in France (1981-2012)},
      publisher = {Graduate Institute of International and Development  Studies},
      address = {Geneva. 2020},
      number = {BOOK},
      pages = {VI, 275 p.},
      year = {2020},
      abstract = {My thesis aims to construct a historical narrative around  the notion of the 'outsider' in France, in other words,  those who consider themselves as part of the French  Republic but to whom the Republic does not reciprocate this  loyalty. These legal but ostracised citizens are relegated  to a periphery of citizenry and rights in the everyday,  while bearing witness to a theoretical political rhetoric  of tolerance and inclusion. They comprise what we may term  the 'Fifth Estate', brought together by their isolation  from the facets of society associated with 'the norm'. Rap  music in France, I argue, is in some ways a sample  representative of this fifth estate, and their lyrics can  provide a telescope into both their experience as secondary  citizens of a very present nation-state, as well as to  their vision of what the Republic should become. Despite an  exponential increase in the popularity of Rap and its  potential as a voice for the disadvantaged youth of France  over the years, its rhetoric has landed on largely silent  ears in the political system and beyond. This is reflected  in the fact that the demands made of the French state (and  system) by rappers expounding upon their experiences of  exclusion have retained an essential continuity between  1991 (the inception of big commercial hits in French rap)  and the end of Nicolas Sarkozy's time in power in 2012. The  nuances of whether this is intentional on the part of the  artists, sculpted by the music industry, a self-fulfilling  stereotype, or is a genuine reflection of stagnant (or  deteriorating) social circumstances, form the core of the  discussion of the thesis.},
      url = {http://repository.graduateinstitute.ch/record/298395},
}