Hip-Hop-Based Pedagogy as Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Whose Culture Is It Really?

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

In recent years there has been a substantial growth in what is often characterized as hip-hop pedagogy (e.g. Biggs, 2011; Cermak, 2012; Emdin & Lee, 2012; Hill, 2009; Jenkins, 2011; Petchauer, 2012). While advocates periodically make reference to “critics” of hip-hop based pedagogy (HHBP), we have found relatively little scholarship that presents a substantial critique of the foundational assumptions on which this growing body of work rests. The purpose of the proposed session is to examine and challenge those foundational assumptions as well as the curricular implications of HHBP. Guided by an ethos of race liberation for people of African descent, each paper in this session explores (and to some degree challenges) a different aspect of the foundational assumptions of hip-hop based pedagogy. The paper session is comprised of five complementary papers. Two of these papers draw from theoretical argument, supported by historical, archival research to challenge prevailing assumptions of HHBP. Two of these papers present empirical findings which challenge prevailing assumptions of HHBP. The fifth paper embracing a critical race theory approach, presents an alternative conception of HHBP derived from first person accounts of community-based work with African American youth in an urban setting.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Issues in Curriculum and Cultural Studies

Chair

• Nicole Lewis, University of Hawaii - Manoa

Papers

• Blacks, Hip-Hop, and the Sociocultural Milieu - Kmt G. Shockley, Howard University

• Tales From the Mic: A Content Analysis of 10 Years of Hip-Hop Lyrics - Jomo W. Mutegi, Indiana University - IUPUI; Vanessa R. Pitts Bannister, University of South Florida

• Pedagogy of the Oppressors: Critiquing the Premise Behind Hip-Hop Pedagogy - Jada Phelps, Indiana University, IUPUI

• The Impact of Hip-Hop Instruction on Students in Urban Settings - Tayana S. Dowdell, Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township

• Key Components of Hip-Hop Pedagogy for Black Youth: Critical Consciousness and Liberation - Julius Davis, Bowie State University