African Languages and Societies Commons^™

Y’En A Marre! Hip-Hop Culture And Social Mobilization In Post Colonial Senegal, Lucie Latuner

Anthropology Department Honors Papers

After over fifty years since decolonization, Senegal is seen as a success story in establishing democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. However, due to neocolonialism, Senegal is still far from independent, and its leaders are still working against the interests of their people. Emerging out of a history of anti-imperialist mobilization, young rappers continue a transnational struggle against imperialism in reference to the ideology of revolutionaries before them. These rappers and journalists, drawing on a sense of responsibility to a historical, multigenerational fight, unite to create the movement Y’en a Marre—a movement of civic mobilization to oppose their authoritarian government and fight …