I love hip-hop in Morocco

I'm really glad you all enjoyed today's documentary, I love hip-hop in  Morocco. this is one of my favorite films to use when discussing issues of globalization, Islamism, and popular culture in the Middle East. Building from our discussion today, I would like for each of you to write a review essay of this documentary, assessing the role of hip-hop in contemporary religious and political debates in Morocco.

 Some themes to think about:

• Thinking about the experiences of two or three artists from the film, discuss what hip-hop means to its participants. Why do they do it? What conclusions might we draw about the nature of popular culture and youth culture in the Middle East?
•  How are they competing discourses of Islamism and globalization portrayed in the film? How do the artists negotiate the competing societal pressures of Islamism and globalization?
•  What are some of the underlying consequences for the American government to promote and fund such a music festival? What was the reaction of the audience, and what might this mean for American foreign policy in the Arab/ Islamic world more generally?

 In putting together your review essay, I would anticipate an introductory paragraph, and then a sizable paragraph for each of the above bullet points, followed by a concluding paragraph that discusses the significance of these issues to our previous discussions on music and identity.

 For tomorrow's class I would also like you to read an article I wrote a couple years ago about the development of Palestinian hip-hop in Israel, " Carrying words like weapons." We are going to be looking at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through music, and this article will give you a basic background on tomorrow's discussion topic. the article is available in the resources folder of our oncourse webpage.

 You all are doing quite well with these blog posts. Keep up the great work!