Music and the political expression and mobilization of second and third-generation immigrants in urban Europe: insights from Liège (Belgium)

Abstract

This paper examines how popular arts in general and music in particular can, under certain spatial–temporal conditions, allow second and third-generation immigrants (STGI) to express political positions and mobilize politically. It consists of three parts. The first part offers some conceptual precisions about what we mean by music in the present research. The second part presents a revised theoretical framework to account for the relevance of musical expression in the socio-political mobilization of second and third-generation immigrants. The third part applies the theoretical framework to the empirical data collected concerning the social and political mobilization of second and third-generation immigrants through music in the industrial city and region of Liège, Belgium.