My participation in this project is a continuation of my long-term fieldwork with dislocated Roma (“Gypsies”) in Istanbul, Turkey, particularly a young Turkish Roma hip-hop group called Tahribad-ı İsyan, which formed in response to an aggressive urban renewal project that demolished their neighborhood in 2010 (see https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/turkey-tahribad-i-isyans-rap-rebellion). They have since been outspoken against Turkey’s urbanization policies and treatment of ethnic minorities. Turkish hip-hop artists are increasingly experiencing government censorship, yet these two young men continue to rap about social injustice. YouTube has become a prominent way to share their music and music videos online, in Turkey and beyond; music can be a means of expressing what is too dangerous to say on social media. Despite rapping the lyrics in Turkish, Tahribad-ı İsyan sees their audiences growing as their music circulates beyond Turkey. This opens up new questions about the simultaneous limitations and opportunities afforded by our current circumstances.

On November 13, 2020, at 9:30-11:30am EST, Tahribad-ı İsyan will offer a virtual concert on Zoom, followed by a question and answer session with the audience. Preceding the concert will be a presentation by Turkish activist, Funda Oral, about the origins of the group and their social impact. The direct experiences that the members of Tahribad-ı İsyan have had with displacement and their recent experiences with quarantine will serve to prompt important discussions about forced mobility and immobility, the role of technology in mediating the local and the global, and ethical concerns around censorship and personal safety in times of conflict and crisis. Additionally, I hope that this event with Tahribad-ı İsyan could forge new connections between OSU and Columbus’s own growing hip-hop scene, particularly regarding the role that local music plays in challenging displacement and marginalization as we consider what kind of city we want to develop and live in together.

To learn more go to:  https://u.osu.edu/audiencesandonlinereception/2020/10/08/hip-hop-in-the-time-of-covid-19/