Welcome to a K3 seminar with Martin Lundqvist, visiting PhD student in Peace and Conflict Studies.

The title of the talk is:

Nep-hop for peace? Political visions and divisions in the booming Nepalese hip-hop scene

It will take place on Wednesday, March 4 at 10.15-12.00 in the K3 Open Studio.

Anders Hög Hansen, K3, will function as discussant. 

Below you will find an abstract for the seminar.

The emerging ‘cultural turn’ in peace research suggests that we may find traces of peace politics within contemporary culture. As such, this ‘turn’ to culture encourages peace researchers to explore various expressions of popular culture within divided societies, with the aim to uncover their potential for inducing peace. While breaking new intellectual ground for peace research, this development has thus far been mostly concerned with English language sources, and it has moreover seen limited engagement with how popular culture is received by its consumers. In order to remedy these research gaps, the present study explores the booming Nepalese hip-hop scene – commonly known as nep-hop – discussing whether, and if so how, the scene may contain visions of an alternative politics relevant for peacebuilding in Nepal. Not only does this line of inquiry contribute to the theoretical development of the ‘cultural turn’ in peace research, it also unpacks an academically un-explored popular culture phenomenon, namely nep-hop.