“ghetto cosmopolitanism”

I'm really feeling the work Rami Nashashibi does, or at least, what I've encountered about it online. He basically does the kind of research that I want to be doing, tracing the impact of hip-hop on marginalized communities in a globalized context.

The presentation highlighted Nashashibi’s research in the Palestinian territories and in the South Side of Chicago. Nashashibi studied the influence of African-American hip-hop on Arab–Israeli musicians.

Central to Nashashibi’s work is the concept of “ghetto cosmopolitanism,” the process by which segregated communities circumvent marginalization by forging nontraditional global networks. The concept attempts to explain the recent emergence of several Arab-Israeli hip-hop groups and their rise to global popularity.

Arab hip-hop combines American hip-hop elements with traditional Arabic beats. However, Nashashibi explained, Palestinian hip-hop is not a mimicry of existing American models. It involves modifying and rejecting aspects of American hip-hop to form a uniquely regional sound that “resonates with local sensibilities,” Nashashibi said. [source]

Elsewhere, Rami has written about the African-Palestinian connection as a way to challenge Arab/Arab-American racisms and to celebrate those areas of Palestinian history, geography, culture and people.

It's depressing to see how too often those opportunities to make those connections and really understand our history get shunned by Arabs.