Using Hip-Hop Pedagogies to Promote Literary Freedom

• In Event: Popular Media Culture, Hip-Hop, and Mexican Corridos: Honoring Young People’s Multiple Literacies

Abstract

Traditionally, literacy has been used to reproduce the educational status quo, perpetuating race and class distinctions. To be literate, is often described as reading and writing Standard English in order to climb the social ladder: "Literacy acquisition is intricately bound up with the learning of White privilege" (Prendergrast, 2003; p. 52). Such a narrow definition of literacy can marginalize youth of color, who may identify with hip-hop and slam poetry, as a means of acquiring and becoming fluent in literacy practices. Research questions that guide this qualitative case study include:
· How has literacy been socially constructed to keep youth of color at the margins?
· In what ways can hip-hop serve as a culturally responsive and rigorous pedagogical tool in
English classrooms?
This research study explores how the use of a hip-hop curriculum, Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics (Sitomer & Cirelli ,2004) not only improved the literacy skills of urban high school English students in Brooklyn, New York, but also helped them to contextualize the significance of their experiences in in-school and out-of-school spaces. My role as a teacher-researcher included collecting data in the form of student journal entries and in-depth class discussions over the course of a six-week unit and continual self-reflexivity. The inquiry-based, student-centered curriculum incorporated classical and hip-hop texts, highlighting students' cultures and respective voices. As a result, students gained substantial knowledge of canonical texts, while using hip-hop lyrics and songs as an academic mechanism to reimagine themselves and their communities. Multimodal and new literacies are not meant to replace traditional models, but to become a part of it: "New literacies are in a synergistic, reciprocal, and constantly evolving relationship with older literacies" (Swenson, Young, McGrail, Rozema, & Whiton, 2006). It is important to consider that, “as classrooms across the country become increasingly diverse, determining how to connect in different ways across multiple lines of difference may be the greatest challenge facing teachers today" (Morrell & Duncan-Andrade, 2002). When pluralism is valued in English classrooms, educators can begin to dismantle hierarchical structures that limit the possibility for diverse educational experiences. The study concludes with reflections from students about their experiences with hip-hop in the English classroom, highlighting the transformative nature of the curriculum.

Author

• Crystal Belle, Teachers College, Columbia University