Afropolitan Projects: Music, Representation, and the Politics of Belonging in Australia
Published in (Monograph or Journal)
Popular Music and Society
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Online
Publication year
Volume number
42
Issue number
2
Page number
p131-149.
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Drawing on ethnographic research in Sydney, Melbourne, and
Canberra (2016–2017), this article examines the way musicians
articulate positive African-Australian identities in the face of political
and media discourse that emphasizes African difference and
criminality. I use the concept of “Afropolitan projects” to describe the
way musicians’ express complexity and multiplicity, simultaneously
forging allegiances across difference and foregrounding the African
roots of contemporary popular music.