Rap artists in the classrooms: towards an end to the cultural illegitimacy of rap in France?
Résumé
French sociological research examines the processes of legitimization and delegitimization of French rap music, by analyzing how various institutions perceive it, such as the media, the political class, the music industry, and through the analysis of the receptions among rap audiences. These studies highlight the diverse artistic legitimacy of rappers, shaped by criteria closely tied to social constructs of race, gender, and class. Notably, persistent processes of rap delegitimization over the past 30 years are attributed to racialization logics rooted in the French post-colonial context that continues to persist today (Hammou & Sonnette-Manouguian, 2022).
However, despite the significant role of the school system in legitimizing musical genres (Robette & Roueff, 2014), there is a noticeable absence of sociological studies exploring the reception of rap within educational settings, despite the burgeoning of rap projects in classrooms. Therefore, this presentation aims to empirically examine this issue using a methodology that includes classroom observations in various French cities where artists have intervened, complemented by interviews with education stakeholders and artists. It explores artist selection, censorship issues, accepted rap forms, potential conflicts with stakeholders, and raises general sociological questions about class, gender and race relations in the French context.