New Article: Dorchin, Ethnography of Jewish and Arab Rap in Israel

Dorchin, Uri. “Flowing Beyond Sectarian Ethno-politics: Ethnography of Jewish and Arab Rap in Israel.” Ethnopolitics (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2015.1041752

 

Abstract

This article addresses the meaning of political music by drawing on the relationships between Jewish and Arab rappers in Israel. However, this article aims to go beyond the concerns of resistance and hegemony that are central to the power-relations paradigm typical of studies of both Israeli society and rap. Instead, it emphasizes how cross references made by rappers transgress social and political oppositions. Based on data gathered from various venues and interviews with performers in the local scene, the author seeks to explain why political music, even in its most scathing guise, should never be taken for a mere ‘musical politics’.

Cite: McDonald, Imaginaries of Exile and Emergence in Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Hip Hop

McDonald, David A. “Imaginaries of Exile and Emergence in Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Hip Hop.” TDR: The Drama Review 57.3 (2013): 69-87.

 

URL:  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_drama_review/v057/57.3.mcdonald.htm

 

Extract

Anat Halachmi’s acclaimed 2003 documentary, Channels of Rage, begins with a furious argument between two prominent Israeli hip hop groups: DAM, a Palestinian-Israeli crew from Lyd comprised of Tamer Nafar, Suheil Nafar, and Mahmoud Jrere; and TACT, a collection of Jewish-Israeli rappers led by Subliminal (Kobi Shimoni) and Shadow (Yoav Eliasi). Meeting in a dark alley in Tel Aviv, the groups nearly come to blows over recent comments made by the two leaders, Tamer Nafar and Shimoni. Once collaborative and nurturing, the relationship between the two young rappers quickly dissolved as each began to embody contrasting political ideologies within the ongoing al-Aqsa intifada. Coming to terms with the violence on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jenin, both artists retreated from their once supportive relationship, based in a mutual love of hip hop, into the rigid, uncompromising nationalisms of Israel and Palestine.

 

Reviews: Kanaaneh and Nusair, eds. Displaced at Home

Kanaaneh, Rhoda Ann and Isis Nusair, eds. Displaced at Home. Ethnicity and Gender among Palestinians in Israel. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2010.

Reviews

• Sa’ar, Amalia. “Review.” Review of Middle East Studies 45.1 (2011): 113-115.
• Bachal, Lauren, et al. “Review.” Contemporary Sociology 40.5 (2011): 639-40.
• Gluck, Sherna Berger. “New Directions in Palestinian Oral History.” Oral History Review 39.1 (2012): 100-111.
• Vivier, Elmé. “Review.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 13.3 (2012): 203-207.
• Arar, Khalid. “Review.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 40.2 (2013): 227-30.

.