Abstract:

Beyond perpetual quests for meaning and presence figured as religious, this paper is an attempt to rethink the religious in Hip Hop culture by examining the uses and effects of the religious within the cultural world of Hip Hop. Moreover, this paper asks, what is accomplished by such uses for particular social groups? Using postmodern theory and social thought, this paper parts from more traditional religious and theological examinations of Hip Hop [such as hermeneutical approaches] to rethink the category of religion for popular cultural analysis beyond a sui generis phenomenological approach which privileges the religious as unique.

Author: Monica Miller