Celine is currently working under the supervision of Dr Joanna Lewis. She holds a BA in Middle Eastern studies (with Arabic) from the University of Manchester and an MSc in History of International Relations from the LSE. In 2018, she was awarded LSE’s Medlicott Prize for her master’s thesis, ‘French Algerian Hip-Hop: Colonialism, the Civil War and the Homeland.’

Provisional thesis title

French Algerian Hip-Hop: The Convergence of Colonialism, Islam, Racism, Poverty and Violence

This thesis seeks to examine key themes within French Algerian hip-hop. While this genre of music emerged in the 1990s, it became highly politicised following the 2005 youth riots in France. Today’s French Algerian hip-hop scene is dominated by the themes of colonialism, racism, Islam, poverty and violence. The analysis of these themes is essential, as they shed light on long-standing historical traumas, while also depicting deep-rooted frustrations in the banlieues and growing tensions between France and its Algerian youth.