“Real Recognize Real?” Dilemmas of “Native” Anthropological Scholarship on Hip-Hop-Based Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research: Roundtable

Abstract

In an effort to push "hip-hop based education" theory, research, and practice in new directions, this paper examines the triumphs and tensions that emerged as I, a self-identified “native” anthropologist of hip-hop culture, conducted critical ethnographic research on the practices, behaviors, and identities of “hip-hop based educators” in small, urban English/language arts classrooms. Two primary findings come to light: (1) there were moments where my race, gender, age, and education outweighed my insider status, and (2) while my familiarity with hip-hop nation language aided in the analysis of “discourse as text,” or the “vocabulary and structure” of teachers’ narratives, the presuppositions I shared as a culture member explicitly and implicitly influenced meaning making between researcher and participants in interesting ways.

Author

• H. Bernard Hall, West Chester University of Pennsylvania