Social Media Discourse, (Dis)identifications and Diversities

”Hassan Maikal, aina paikal” : vloggaaminen, kuuluminen ja intersektionaalisuus

Artikkeli käsittelee kuulumisen ja kuulumattomuuden intersektionaalista rakentumista suomalaisessa nuorisokulttuurissa yhden tapaustutkimuksen kautta. Erityisesti tutkin sitä, miten tubettaja ja rap-artisti Hassan Maikal käyttää kieltä, diskursseja, (liikkuvaa) kuvaa ja ääntä rakentaessaan sosiaalista, diskursiivista ja affektiivista kiinnittymistä, tai näiden puutetta. Otan huomioon, miten etenkin etnisyys, uskonnollisuus ja sukupuoli, mutta myös ikä, kieli ja asuinpaikka, liittyvät kuulumiseen ja kuulumattomuuteen ja rakentavat näitä. Teoreettis-metodologisesti tutkimus nojaa sosiolingvistiseen diskurssintutkimukseen ja monimodaalisuuden tutkimukseen. Aineisto koostuu artistin ja tutkijan…

"Buuzzia, budia ja hyvää ghettobootya" : the construction of hip hop identities in Finnish rap lyrics through English and language mixing

Suomiräpin ja suomalaisuuden moninaisuudesta

Rapmusiikki eri alalajeineen nauttii Suomessa tällä hetkellä suurta suosiota erityisesti nuorten keskuudessa. Entistä monimuotoisemmaksi muuttuva suomirap voi toimia avaimena erilaisiin kokemuksiin ja identiteetteihin sekä rakentaa ja välittää entistä rasisminvastaisempaa tulevaisuutta. nonPeerReviewed

Entextualization and resemiotization as resources for identification in social media

Drawing on insights provided by linguistic anthropology, the study of multisemioticity and research in computer-mediated discourse (CMD), this chapter discusses how entextualization (Bauman & Briggs, 1990; Silverstein & Urban, 1996; Blommaert, 2005, pp. 46–8) and resemiotization (Iedema, 2003; Scollon & Scollon, 2004, pp. 101–3; Scollon, 2008) are key resources for identity work in social media. Three key arguments inspire and give direction to our discussion, each of them laying down touchstones for language scholars who wish to investigate identity in social media. First, for many individuals and social or cultural groups, social media are increasingly significant grassroots arenas for in…

Sociolinguistic upsets and people of color in social media performances

Abstract Particularly since the refugee “reception crisis” in 2015, Finland has started transforming into a more diverse and multicultural society. These societal changes have also been accompanied by sociolinguistic change, as well as language ideological debates and tensions, often manifesting in explicitly racist and xenophobic bursts of upset. In this article, our focus is on social media as a space where such societal and sociolinguistic upsets are articulated and re-worked. Drawing on recent sociolinguistic and discourse analytic work on transformative and critical popular cultural practices in social media, and studies on rap and belonging, we discuss how, in a mediatized society suc…

Rapping the ‘Better folk’: Ideological and scalar negotiations of past and present

Drawing on sociolinguistics of globalization, discourse studies and global hip hop studies, this article examines how the ideological sociocultural and -historical reality of Finland is (re)constructed and (re)negotiated in a local rap song and how the song takes issue with the official, but often tension-ridden Finnish–Swedish bilingualism. Its specific, ironic take arises from the fact that the rap artist is Finnish-speaking, but echoes a Swedish-speaking minority who are traditionally and stereotypically seen as a privileged, historical elite. The song exemplifies how rap can constitute a site for investigation of language ideological debates in bi/multilingual societies and how national…

“Still Alive, Nigga” : Multi-Semiotic Constructions of Self as Other in Finnish Rap Music Videos

The discursive construction of authenticity : resources, scales and polycentricity in Finnish hip hop culture

“Who’s Afraid of the Dark?”: The Ironic Self-Stereotype of the Ethnic Other in Finnish Rap Music

Drawing on recent sociolinguistic work on globalization and superdiversity, this chapter explores the multisemiotic and ironic construction of the self-stereotype of the ethnic Other in a Finnish rap music video. Because Finland and Finnish hip-hop are still ethnically relatively homogeneous, people of migrant background, such as rap artist Musta Barbaari (Black Barbarian), need to negotiate their belonging in various ways. In the video, he deliberately constructs himself as the ethnicized and sexualized Other to highlight prejudice, discrimination and racism. In doing this, he voices societal critique and dissatisfaction – and speaks for multiculturalism and tolerance in (super)diversifyin…

Superdiversity perspective and the sociolinguistics of social media

This chapter shows how the superdiversity perspective suggested in recent critical sociolinguistics provides the study of social media discourse and communication with a useful approach to conceptualizing and empirically investigating complex and multiple axes of diversity and difference in social media practices. It discusses recent work in sociolinguistics of social media, highlighting how social media practices illustrate many of the aspects of contemporary social life and communication that are considered symptomatic of superdiversity. It shows how research in this field has moved from viewing superdiversity as a quality or quantity characterizing specific places, spaces, groups and net…

Migrant rap in the periphery

Abstract Focusing on a YouTube performance by an emergent Finnish Somali rapper and the audience responses it has generated, this paper looks at ways in which rap music engages with the issue of belonging. Drawing on recent theorizations of belonging as a multi-dimensional, contingent and fluid process, along with sociolinguistic work on globalization and superdiversity, Finnish hip hop culture and popular cultural practices in social media, the paper investigates how belonging is performatively and multi-semiotically interrogated in its online context. It shows how rap can serve as a significant site and channel for new voices in turbulent social settings characterized by rapid social chan…

“I be da reel gansta”—A Finnish footballer’s Twitter writing and metapragmatic evaluations of authenticity

This article explores the ways in which ‘gangsta’ English features are deployed, evaluated and adopted in two types of social media, the web forum and Twitter, within the domains of hip hop culture and football (soccer) culture, from the dual perspective of authenticity and normativity. Empirically, we aim to break new ground by investigating the intricate interconnections between two social media formats and combining two highly popular but previously seldom connected cultural forms—football and hip hop. Our theoretical aim is to contribute to the current debate on authenticity, normativity, popular culture and social media, and the complex ways in which they are connected. We focus, first…

Kohti monimediaisia tekstitaitoja : mihin maahanmuuttajataustaiset aikuiset käyttävät tietokonetta ja miten he siihen suhtautuvat

In this article, we investigate adult migrants’ computer skills. The article is based on a questionnaire sent to e.g. migrant organizations and Finnish as L2 teachers around Finland. First, we review some recent studies of the use of computers and the internet by migrants. We then discuss the results of the questionnaire with specifi c reference to how often the migrants investigated in this study use a computer, what they use it for and what kinds of attitudes they have towards using it. Based on the 865 answers received, it seems that most of the migrants (65%) use a computer daily and most of them (88%) have one at home. They use the computer for many different purposes, such as e-mail, …

Johdanto : Hiphop-kulttuurin tutkimus ja opetus Suomessa

Introduction : spaces of upset in the Nordic region

Abstract This introductory article opens the thematic issue Spaces of Upset in the Nordic Region. It introduces the contributions of the issue, outlines the concepts that unite them, and discusses the sociolinguistic area in which they are set: the Nordic region. Centering on Denmark, Finland and Sweden, the article offers an overview of some of the sociolinguistic, ideological and political characteristics of the region and the countries it comprises. The Nordic region is widely seen as a paradigm case of social stability, consensus and cohesion. This vision is, however, a mirage. To be sure, upset often lingers below the discursive veneer of Nordic harmony, concord and agreement. Breaking…

Introduction: Social Media Discourse, (Dis)Identifications and Diversities

The focus in this volume is on social media discourse, (dis)identifications and diversities. It demonstrates how particular ways of mobilizing verbal, discursive and other semiotic resources serve as means for identity work (Bucholtz, 2003; Blommaert, 2003), involving acts, processes and practices of (dis)identification as essential aspects of sociality in social media. It will also illustrate how such social action also increasingly engages with a range of diversities in social media. peerReviewed

Kuulumisen ja etnisyyden neuvottelua monimuotoisessa suomiräpissä

Migrant rap in the periphery : performing politics of belonging

Focusing on a YouTube performance by an emergent Finnish Somali rapper and the audience responses it has generated, this paper looks at ways in which rap music engages with the issue of belonging. Drawing on recent theorizations of belonging as a multi-dimensional, contingent and fluid process, along with sociolinguistic work on globalization and superdiversity, Finnish hip hop culture and popular cultural practices in social media, the paper investigates how belonging is performatively and multi-semiotically interrogated in its online context. It shows how rap can serve as a significant site and channel for new voices in turbulent social settings characterized by rapid social change and co…

Further notes on sociolinguistic scales

AbstractThis short paper seeks to reformulate and refine the notion of sociolinguistic scales as relative scope of understandability, thus drawing the notion fully into the realm of semiotics, rather than in the rather unproductive sphere of spatiotemporal and distributional interpretation where it has been deployed. Differences in scope of understandability are differences in the presupposability of signs, and such differences are not equivalent but stratified in a polycentric environment. Scales, in that sense, point towards the non-unified and hierarchical-layered nature of the sign and of meaning making practices. Scalar effects, once established, can furthermore be carried over into di…