Illuminati, Rothschilds, Zionisten. Antisemitismus im deutschen Gangsta-Rap. Vortrag von Jakob Baier

In the organizer's words:

In Germany, gangsta rap has developed into the most economically successful subgenre over the past two decades. Hyper-masculine and misogynistic power fantasies are among the leitmotifs in the self-staging of the mostly male artists. In their song lyrics and music videos, they also convey authoritarian moral and social concepts, in which conspiracy ideologies and anti-Semitic interpretations of global power relations often come to light. The lecture explores the question of the extent to which texts and statements by German-speaking gangsta rappers that are critical of society and power contain anti-Semitic patterns of interpretation. Which (traditional) anti-Jewish motifs are reflected explicitly or implicitly? What role do genre-specific semantics, constructions of masculinity and authoritarian social concepts play? And to what extent do these correlate with their young listeners' interpretations of the world?"

Bio: Dr. Jakob Baier is a social scientist and conducts research at Bielefeld University on anti-Semitism in cultural production, conspiracy ideologies in modern media and anti-Semitism in youth milieus. Previously, he was a lecturer in German-Jewish educational history and the contemporary history and present of anti-Semitism at the University of Kassel. From 2021 to 2025, he was a research associate at the Center for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (ZPI) at Bielefeld University. He is currently coordinating the project "Antisemitism in the Context of Schools" at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at Bielefeld University, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Research, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth."

This event is part of the Action Weeks against Anti-Semitism and is sponsored by the AStA of the University of Cologne. Information on the series can be found at https://www.instagram.com/bga_koeln and https://bga-koeln.tumblr.com.