| dc.description.abstract | This research examines the work of Kneecap, a working-class hip-hop trio from west Belfast who rap as Gaeilge (in the Irish language), in present-day North of Ireland, an area still occupied by British imperialism. Utilising the critical frameworks of postcolonialism and masculinity studies, this thesis considers new parallels between gender, class, resistance and language in (North of) Irish cultural and political contexts. Kneecap is now achieving global recognition, despite ongoing censorship and despite performing in a language that is spoken and understood by relatively few. This thesis analyses Kneecap’s visual art, activism and music (including lyrics and sound) to better understand how masculinity, subalternity and anti-imperialism intersect in their performances. Through this analysis, I aim to uncover to what extent Kneecap is pioneering a new form of Irish republican masculinity – a form that is nationalist and anti-bourgeoise, but also deliberately disrupts established republican ideology. The history and politics of hip hop is integral to this thesis, as I interrogate how Kneecap authentically appropriate this genre to re-present Irish culture, and subvert imperial hegemony. My research also draws from Postcolonial and Marxist definitions of the subaltern, with the aim of considering the concept as a pertinent analytic for Kneecap’s work. A central aspect to this consideration is Kneecap’s use of Irish as a language that is indigenous, endangered and imbued with traces of subalternity. I conclude by analysing the significance of the “third space” of Kneecap’s performances – an emergent space that is at once political and cultural, local and global – and how it can offer a means of resistance against an increasingly violent and ubiquitous globalised imperialism, which their music is explicitly and implicitly pitted against. | |
