UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Language and Arts

This episode is a recording of a presentation by Rezvan Sayyad, who presented a talk with this title at the 2025 online UNESCO RIELA Spring School: The Arts of Integrating. Rezvan is researching how rap music in Iran has become a contested space for representation, identity and resistance. 

Abstract:

This study explores how rap music in Iran has become a contested space for representation, identity, and resistance. While mainstream voices often dominate, marginalised groups, including women and diasporic communities, struggle to access the microphone, both literally and symbolically. This talk highlights the ways in which Persian rap functions as a vehicle for storytelling and self-expression in contexts of censorship, inequality, and displacement. By examining who is silenced and who is heard, I connect the politics of voice in hip hop to broader themes of peacebuilding, cultural dialogue, and the creation of more inclusive societies.

Please scroll down for the biography of the speaker. 

 
Biography of the speaker:
 
Rezvan Sayyad is a Kamancheh player, ethnomusicology student, and emerging researcher in Persian music. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Persian Music Performance from Gilan University (Iran) and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Ethnomusicology at the University of Würzburg (Germany). Her research focuses on the intersection of gender, diaspora, and power dynamics within music. Alongside her academic work, she is an active musician, performing both traditional Persian music and original compositions, and is passionate about using music as a means of dialogue, cultural exchange, and social connection.

This episode was edited by Zhixi Li.

First published: 25 March 2026

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