Keyword – identity

Iványi, Márton Pál:

Stands, Suburbs, Salat

Rap as an Alternative Medium of Identity Formation and of Critical Engagement with the Social Mainstream

Médiakutató, 2026. tavasz, XXVII. évf., 1. sz.

The scholarly literature has explored the genesis of rap music and its original social functions, including, among other things, the processing of the experiences of marginalisation, the formation of collective identities, and various forms of social engagement. Building upon these established lines of discussion, this paper introduces three case studies of artistic practice drawn from two broadly comparable historical and social contexts, as well as a third one that differs markedly from them. Through these cases, it aims to demonstrate how the artistic identity and oeuvre of a given rapper may be structured around distinct focal points such as 1) the articulation of affiliation with a sports club, as exemplified by Dale in the Hungarian scene, 2) the expression of patriotic motifs, characteristic of the Polish trajectory associated with Sokół and 3) the foregrounding of religious commitment, as observed in the Algerian case of Lotfi Double Kanon. In each instance, these emphases operate in tension with, or in opposition to, dominant mainstream cultural frameworks and currents. Taken together, these cases make it evident that certain salient patterns—related to sport, place-based belonging or religious orientation—may constitute some of the most prominent elements of an artist’s public persona or “brand”, even within a musical genre that has long been associated with African American cultural expression. Ultimately, this analysis corroborates earlier observations that suggest that rap has by now evolved into a highly differentiated field and a polyphonic universe of meanings.

Tamás, Ildikó:

Minority identity in a global context

Relation to the Freezing Arctic Winter as a Sámi Ethnic Motif on Instagram

Médiakutató, 2024. ősz–tél, XXV. évf., 3–4. sz.

This paper looks into how an emblematic element of Sámi identity is transformed from offline discourses into online folklore and how younger generations use the traditional cultural elements to represent their identity besides the textual multilingualism on social media. It focuses on the content of two Instagram profiles and provides an ethnographic insight into the ethnic-based online discourse that these represent. The repetitive topic of the Instagram posts is the relation to the freezing Arctic winter, which—as a biological and cultural phenomenon—is fit to articulate ethnic differences between the indigenous and the ‘foreign’ peoples. This opposition generates humorous contents that sometimes cross the boundary between political correctness and incorrectness. It also illustrates how oral folklore may conquer contemporary registers and how it survives in the latest modern forms of online communication.

Schleicher, Nóra:

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?

Gender and visual self-representation on Facebook

Médiakutató, 2019. ősz, XX. évf., 3. sz.

The paper examines the identity construction of Hungarian secondary school students from the perspective of gender. It focuses on their visual self-representation performed through their Facebook profile photos. In line with previous international research, the detailed analysis of 362 Facebook profile photos originating from a representative survey shows that visual self-representations are typically conform and meet social expectations and stereotypical meanings attached to gender. Experimentation, norm breaking and boundary crossing, often thought to be characteristic of this age group, were not at all typical of the profile photos, especially with girls. Visual representations were rooted in traditional representations of femininity and masculinity, and reconstructed stereotypical meanings attached to gender.