Stephanie Shonekan

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Stephanie Shonekan
University of Missouri, MI

Dr. Stephanie Shonekan is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and Black Studies at the University of Missouri. Her doctorate in Ethnomusicology is from Indiana University, Bloomington. She has published articles on afrobeat, Nigerian hip-hop and Fela Kuti. Her book The Life of Camilla Williams, African American Classical Singer and Opera Diva was published in 2011. Shonekan’s award-winning short film, Lioness of Lisabi (2008), was inspired by the life and revolutionary spirit of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Fela Kuti’s mother. Her current book project is an exploration of American race, identity and culture through the lens of soul and country music.

Talk Title: African-Americanisms in African Culture: The Case Nigerian Hip Hop

The most widespread export of the United States is the irresistibly enigmatic quality that defines African American music, culture and identity. The pulsating rhythms of African American music, the ‘cool-pose’ of a perceived African American identity, the unique vernacular that is created on US city streets – all these have reappeared either in imitated forms or as parts of new cultural hybrids that have redefined youth cultures around the world. This was especially so after WWII as African American musical forms began to resonate resoundingly with African musical sensibilities. The most significant precedents of Nigerian hip-hop – afrobeat and highlife – appropriated aspects of earlier African American musical genres and incorporated them into a local Nigerian musical foundation that was functional and responsive to the dire economic and social conditions of a post-colonial Nigeria. Today, Nigerian hip hop artists and their audiences appropriate African American hip hop culture to construct new identities and cultural behaviors.

This paper will raise new questions about the impact of African American hip hop on the psyche and identity of young Nigerians and the ability of this contemporary era in Nigerian popular music to respond to the socio-economic challenges that young Nigerians continue to face.

WEB LINK:
http://www.stephanieshonekan.com
http://music.missouri.edu/faculty/shonekan.html