From Blues to Hip-Hop: Black Women, Public Scholar(ship), and Curriculum Studies

• In Event: Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Space, and Popular Culture

Abstract

Consistent with the 2016 theme “Public Scholarship to Educate Diverse Democracies,” we analyze the public intellectualism of Black female musicians and their contributions to “educating” society. Utilizing Black feminist epistemology and critical race feminism as the main theoretical frameworks, we 1) critically analyze Curriculum Studies as a field and problematize the ways intellectualism has been traditionally conceived, understood and enacted to undermine the contributions of people of color outside of the academy; 2) discuss music and popular culture as a non-traditional pedagogical space for public scholarship and its significance for Black womens’ activism; and 3) discuss the significance of counter-narratives of Black women musicians/music to advancing issues critical to Curriculum Studies such as education for liberation, democracy, and justice.

Authors

• Paula Groves Price, Washington State University

• Courtney Pearl Benjamin, Washington State University - Pullman