Music History and Culture

Music history and culture examines how sonic practices and the industries around them shape—and are shaped by—the societies that produce them, tracing connections between sound, meaning, and lived experience across time and place. Researchers in this area pay particular attention to how genres like rap function as vehicles for identity formation, especially among young people navigating questions of belonging, authenticity, and resistance within and across subcultures. The rise of digital distribution and global media has complicated older assumptions about where music "comes from" and who it speaks for, making questions of cultural ownership and authenticity more contested than ever. Active debates center on how globalization homogenizes or diversifies musical expression, and on how marginalized communities sustain distinct cultural voices when their art forms are absorbed into mainstream commercial circuits.

Works

138,811

Total citations

488,510

Keywords

MusicCultureYouthIdentitySubculturesAuthenticity