An Algerian musical mosaic: an ethnographic and visual exploration of the place of gender in Algerian popular music in social media platforms, live music events, and wedding ceremonies

Abstract

This thesis is interdisciplinary in nature and falls into the academic fields of popular music studies, women and gender studies, sociology, media and cultural studies. This thesis presents an in-depth ethnographic explanation of Algerian music events focusing on the degree of acceptance of women in this industry in terms of production (artists) and consumption (audience) compared to their male counterparts.

A qualitative approach has been taken, following the Chicago School ethnographic methodology of research, which allowed the construction of a sample of over 200 research
participants. Algeria was the main location of this study, where I could attend different live music events and wedding ceremonies in addition to the accessing the online space (social media platforms). Different data were collected using a range of qualitative research methods, namely observation, ethnographic interviews, qualitative surveys, visuals, audio-visual documents, online ethnography, and chaperone ethnography (one of the contributions of the current study in the field of ethnography). During this research, contact was established with participants including managers, businessmen, DJs and young audiences.

This Ph.D. is a study on gender relations in the musical industry in contemporary Algeria. It also looks at the patriarchal and conservative stereotypes that Algerian young adults construct about mainly female Raï artists because of the control of internal (familial) and external (social)
influences. As a contribution, this study uncovers gender inequality in the industry arising from the misuse and misinterpretation of spiritual beliefs to construct realities. The findings have revealed that some social media platforms are accessed as a form of escapism to enjoy certain
types of music away from social restrictions. Additionally, the findings showed that in terms of gender, location plays a key role in music consumption in Algeria. On the one hand, in public spaces, gender consumption is male-dominated, while at wedding ceremonies women become more active than men and the party is mainly dominated by women. This Ph.D. suggests that
contemporary Algerian music production and consumption contain contradictions. As shown through the data, research subjects had pleasure and enjoyment but also felt degrees of denial under conservative social and cultural traditions.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	English