Hip Hop, Japan, & the War on Terror: Locating Politics in Japanese Language Rap Music

Lecture by Ian Condry, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages & Literatures, M.I.T.
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Cultural anthropologist Ian Condry will discuss his new book Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization (2006, Duke Univ. Press) to explore the relationship between language, performance, and politics. Examples will include Japanese rap songs that critique America's "war on terror." How and why do Japanese rappers creatively deform and reinvent their own language? How do the cultural and linguistic flows of hip-hop influence America's image, and the image of African-Americans, on the world stage? What can Japanese rappers teach Americans about transnational perspectives on media and culture?

The event is co-sponsored by the UCLA Discourse Lab and free and open to the public.

Date: Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

UCLA
352 Haines Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095