Filling the Head: Listening to Rap in Arabic

In this ethnography, El Zein listens to the experiences of rappers and their audiences in Amman, Beirut, and Ramallah as they search for ways to engage the political beyond the framework of resistance. Her recently published book, Filling the Head: Listening to Rap in Arabic, theorizes an interdisciplinary approach to political agency rooted the feeling of yearning for a new model of recognition.

Dr. Rayya El Zein is an independent researcher. Her writings explore return, yearning, and other frameworks of belonging and becoming. She holds a PhD in theatre and performance studies from the Graduate Center, CUNY.