Leiden University Student Repository

Sturing, Bart (2023)

Music and identity process of the West African griot in The Netherlands: Music as an instrument of coping with identity threats of griot transmigrant in The Netherlands

Bachelor thesis | Urban Studies (BA)

This thesis demonstrates how the identity process of Gaye and Kuyateh, two griots from the Gambia, is shaped by global forces. Their griot training has prepared them to enforce significance within Gambian society. However rapid processes of modernization have influenced the social environment that they operated in. Furthermore, global processes of deterritorialization, imperialist nostalgia and the rise of world music have eventually determined their decision to migrate to The Netherlands as musicians. By using the Identity Process Theory, this study analyzes how these two griots use music as a tool to cope with the identity threats that this new environment presents them.

Music, Identity, Migration, Griot

Author

Sturing, Bart

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Cultural diversity, identity

Supervisors

A. Kefford

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en