“Exploring the intersection of aesthetics, politics, and power within the realms of cultural production and digital cultures.”

Publications and Research


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Memes, Monsters and the Digital Grotesque by Cristina Moreno Almeida. New book out now.
Rap Beyond Resistance book cover by Cristina Moreno-Almeida. Staging power in contemporary morocco. Pop music, culture and identity key read media studies

Books

Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque
Oxford University Press (2024)

Rap Beyond ‘Resistance’: Staging Power in Contemporary Morocco
Palgrave McMillan (2017)


Articles

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2025. “Of Sleeps and Cycles: Digital Disruptions and the Myth of Awakening” On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture, pp. 1-13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.22029/oc.2025.1515

Moreno-Almeida, C. & Gerbaudo, P. 2021. “Memes and the Moroccan Far-Right.” The International Journal of Press/Politics, 26 (4), pp. 882-906.

Crooke, A., Moreno-Almeida, C., Comte, R. 2021. “A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of Research Linking Hip Hop and Wellbeing in Schools.” Journal of Hip Hop Studies, 8 (1), pp. 127-160.

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2020. “Memes as Snapshots of Political Participation: The Role of Digital Amateur Activists in Authoritarian Regimes” New Media and Society, 23(6), pp. 1545.1566.

Banaji, S & Moreno-Almeida, C. 2020. “Politicising Creativity at The Margins: The Significance of Class, Gender and Sexuality for the Politics of Online Youth Networks in The MENA Region.” Global Media and Communication, 17(1), pp. 121-142. 

Crooke, A., Comte, R. & Moreno-Almeida, C. 2020. “Hip Hop as an Agent for Health and Wellbeing in Schools: A Narrative Synthesis of Existing Research.” VOICES, 20 (1).

Moreno-Almeida, C. & Banaji, S. 2019. “Digital Use and Mistrust in the Aftermath of the Arab Spring: Beyond Narratives of Liberation and Disillusionment.” Media, Culture & Society, 41(8), pp.1125-1141.

Crooke, A & Moreno-Almeida, C. 2017. “‘It’s good to know something real and all that’: Exploring the Benefits of a School-Based Hip Hop Program.” Australian Journal of Music Education, 51(1), 13-28.

Banaji, S & Moreno-Almeida, C. 2017. “From Passion to Activism? The Politics, Communications and Creativity of Participatory Networks in The MENA Region”. LSE Middle East Centre Report, pp. 1-20

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2017. “Reporting on Selective Voices of Resistance: Secularism, Class and Islamist Rap.” International Journal of Cultural Studies, 21 (4), pp. 343-358.

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2015. “The Politics of Taqlidi Rap: Reimagining Moroccanness in the Era of Global Flows.” Journal of North African Studies 21 (1), pp. 116-131.

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2014. “La Evolución de las Distintas Voces del Rap en Marruecos: Más Allá de la Cooptación y la Disidencia.” AWRAQ 10, pp. 123-139.

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2013. “Unraveling Distinct Voices in Moroccan Rap: Evading Control, Weaving Solidarities and Building New Spaces for Self-expression.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, Special Issue: Contemporary Moroccan Cultural Production: Between Dissent and Co-optation 25 (3), pp. 319-332.

Calvo, E. et al., 2009. “Aplicación de las Nuevas Tecnologías a la Enseñanza del Árabe En La Universidad: el Proyecto Árabe En Línea (Ael) del GIDC Luga De La UB.” Arabele, Madrid: Casa Árabe, pp. 89-102


Book Chapters

Moreno-Almeida, C. & Keith Broni. 2025 “Becoming: the future possibilities for emojis as a dynamic medium. In conversation with: Keith Brono and Cristina Moreno-Almeida”. Jack Thomas Taylor & Katy Gillett (eds), A Glossary: Memememememe, Qatar: Media Majlis Museum - Northwestern, pp. 86-91.

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2025. “Informal Opposition Politics in Arts, Culture, and Youth.” In Francesco Cavatorta, Eoin O’Malley and Alex Baturo (eds), The Handbook of Political Opposition, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2023. “Moroccan Hip Hop Queens: A (Her)Story of Moroccan Rap.” In Loubna Skalli Hanna & Nahed Eltantawy (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Gender, Media and Communication in the Middle East and North Africa, Palgrave McMillan, pp. 447-464

Moreno-Almeida, C. “Dis-meme-bering Al-Andalus: The Memetic Afterlives of the Andalusi song “Chams al Achya.” In Charles Hirschkind & Matthew Machin-Autenrieth (eds), The Musical Afterlives of al-Andalus: Identities and Encounters beyond History, Open Book Publishers (forthcoming 2024).

Moreno-Almeida, C. “Moroccan Hip Hop Queens: A Herstory of Hip Hop Culture in Morocco” In Loubna Skalli Hanna & Nahed Eltantawy (eds), Palgrave Handbook on Communication and Gender in MENA, Palgrave McMillan (forthcoming 2022)

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2020. “Forgotten Encounters: Sounds of Coexistence in Moroccan Rap Music.” In Sami Everett & Rebekah Vince (ed), Jewish Muslim Interactions: Performing Cultures between North Africa and France. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 161-180

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2016. “‘Race’ and ‘Blackness’ in Moroccan Rap: Voicing Local Experiences of Marginality.” In Alex Lubin and Marwan Kraidy (eds.), American Studies Encounters the Middle East. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, pp. 81-105

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2016. “Imagining the Enemy: The Role of Patriotic Rap Songs in Curbing Critical Voices in Morocco.” In Najib Mokhtari (ed), Decentering Patterns of Otherness: Towards an Asymmetrical Transcendence of Identity in Postcolonial MENA. Rabat: Babel; UIR Press, pp. 187-201

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2014. “From the West Coast to Tangier: Translocal Hip Hop in the New Morocco.” In Alex Lubin (ed), Shifting Borders: America and the Middle East/North Africa: proceedings of the fourth international conference sponsored by CASAR at AUB, Beirut: American University of Beirut Press, pp. 81-91

Moreno-Almeida, C. 2014. “‘Arab Spring’ and Hip Hop ‘Cool.’” In Said Graiouid and Taieb Belghazi (eds), Migration, Human Rights and the Politics of Identity in a Globalized World, Rabat: Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Rabat, pp. 223-237


Research

Specialist Interests:

  • Cultural Studies

  • Digital Cultures

  • Music and Youth Cultures

  • Power and Resistance

  • Nationalism and Patriotism

  • Far-Right

  • North Africa and the Middle East



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