Creating Hip-Hop-Based Curricula for the Psychological Development of Police Cadets in Athens, Greece

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Promoting Youths’ Awareness and Agency Through Hip-Hop-Based Education: A Symposium

Abstract

1. Objectives or purposes

The cumulative and unique form of “police complex spiral trauma” (author, 2013, p.7) is engendered by the economic crisis in Greece and the almost daily clashes of police forces with the angry public increases the intensity and the frequency of police exposure to trauma. Based on interview data collected in Athens, Greece from police cadets we have garnered narratives which indicate that police require a nonhegemonic form of cultural intervention that is multimodal and multicultural in dealing with police complex spiral trauma. Herein we present theoretical suppositions to inform our practical implementation of arts-based Hip Hop curriculum as a preventative and therapeutic tool for young cadets in training and in the field.

2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

Police complex spiral form trauma (author, 2013) is a theory to describe cumulative, inclusive and multidimensional trauma, described as “the ecological demands of complex trauma are frequent, intense Potentially Traumatic Events (PTE), which is mainly disenfranchised from the officers who experience it.” Hip Hop Psychology (authors, 2009; 2010; 2012) is the study of the psychological meaning of Hip Hop discourse (rap, dance, etc.) and human development applied in a variety of formats including educational, therapeutic, and community-based research and interventions.

3. Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry

Researchers gathered qualitative interview data from 5 youth police cadets in Athens, Greece. The interviews were extensive and lasted for approximately 30 minutes each. The interviews aided researchers in gaining a first-hand account into the lived experiences of youth police cadets during a time of economic upheaval.

4. Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials

Five interviews with youth police cadets were gathered and transcribed. Interviews were then used as evidence for substantiating particular theoretical rationale and providing the context for examining masculinities and expression within the context of police culture.

5. Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view

Interviews revealed first-hand accounts of police complex spiral trauma as lived by Athenian police cadets. Furthermore, cadets revealed a cultural milieu amongst police where expression of such trauma is often stunted. Police cadets expressed a desire for a more authentic and multifaceted mode of expression. Based on similar work occurring in Toronto (author, 2013), we posit that Hip Hop as an artistic form and diplomatic force for cross-cultural engagement could be utilized as a tool for managing police complex spiral form trauma.

6. Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work

As a government entity perceived to bring peace and order during times of economic crisis, police cadets require an effective program managing their trauma. Multicultural and multimodal Hip Hop-based curricula crafted with the knowledge of trauma and human development could prove to be an effective preventative and educational tool to aid a growing counterhegemonic cohort of youth police.

Authors

• Konstantinos Papazoglou

• Debangshu Roychoudhury, City College of New York - CUNY

• Lauren M. Gardner, The Graduate Center at the CUNY