Mapping 'the Streets': Young Female Rappers and Violence in East London.

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East London is said to have birthed the genre of Grime, of which rap is a significant component (Bramwell 2015; James 2021). While women have been integral to the scene, it has been largely male dominated (Ramsden 2022). The findings presented in my doctoral research have also shown that experiences of violence, whether structural or interpersonal, are prevalent in the lives of young women who frequent and reside in East London. This small-scale research project synthesises these two areas of research and will advance my previous research findings. It will provide space for young women who engage in the rap scene to articulate their lived experiences of violence as they are woven into the fabric of East London. Mirroring my doctoral research, this project will be conducted in the East London borough of Rowe which I have pseudonymised to preserve the anonymity of participants as much as possible. Methodology and Research Questions1. To what extent do young women experience violence and safety on 'the streets' in East London?2. To what extent does rap music serve to challenge the normative constructions of 'race' and gender?3. To what extent does music encourage a political voice as a means of resistance to violence?The data will be collected using ethnographic methods of participant observation during the collective walking interviews, and 1:1, face to face interviews, with a sample of five participants. This is a realistic and manageable number of participants to recruit, interview in-depth and work with for the documentary within the timeframe available. The interviews are integral to this research project in providing a space for interlocutors to share and speak as authorities on their personal lived experiences of violence in the city. Mapping the Streets - Walking interviewsThere has been growing academic interest in walking as a research method over the last few years, cutting across a range of disciplines and practices (O'Neill and Roberts 2019). It is considered a form of pedagogy, a way to learn and access local knowledge (Henry and Back 2020). In recording and telling the culture and history of reggae on the streets of South East London, Henry and Back (2020) write, '[walking] involves thinking on the move as we encounter the damage to the city; its exclusions and paradoxes; its gendered, racialised and classed rights of way and the invisible, yet tangible, barriers that denote the rights to freely wander' (Henry and Back 2020: 34). Mapping the Streets will develop feminist approaches to walking (Jackson 2019; Puwar 2004), and advance intersectional feminist perspectives to understanding the experiences of young women in East London. The project will enable young women to identify spaces, buildings and objects that hold significance to them and simultaneously bring meanings, memories and stories together. I will explore the ways in which power works through urban space (Jackson 2019; Kern 2020), experienced by young women along racialised, classed and gendered lines. It will also incorporate elements of co-production; the walks will be participant-led and as such, the routes, length, time and tempo of the walks will be dictated by the participants in accordance with the depth of the discussion that ensues. The semi-structured nature of these walking interviews will also lend to the co-production of knowledge, such that they will inform and determine the questions that need to be asked. In connecting young women's stories more directly to the wider community within which they reside and frequent, this project seeks to further advance the contributions I have made in my doctoral research, and more broadly to the field of rap music and young women's experiences of violence in East London.