We Gon' Be Alright: Reflections on Whiteness and Authenticity in Hip-Hop Education

• In Event: "You Ain't Gotta Lie to Kick It": Exploring Teacher Identity in Hip-Hop Education

Abstract

Objective
As a white male educator who utilizes Hip-Hop Based Education (HHBE) to engage urban youth in a critical approach to learning, this author’s pedagogy depends on the willingness to confront race, privilege, and power. Reflecting on his identity and positioning both inside and outside of hip-hop culture requires an honest self-reflection about the need for authenticity in the classroom. The author’s use of hip-hop invites students to read and write the world through a critical lens (Freire 1987), deconstructing systematic forms of oppression while affirming cultural identities (Ball & Ellis 2008). This presentation explores the author’s complex relationship to hip-hop in order to demonstrate how white teachers might effectively engage youth in HHBE.

Conceptual Framework
As seen in recent literature (Fischer 2007, Hill 2009, Low 2011), teachers are negotiating the social complexities of Hip-Hop Based Education, which includes the study of spoken word poetry in classroom spaces. This approach asks teachers to become culturally responsive (Ladson-Billings 1995) practitioners who embrace conflict as a site for meaningful teaching and learning. Using hip-hop as a way to develop critical literacy skills supports learners in their movement from passive consumers to critical media producers (Morrell, et al. 2013). This author puts theories of critical pedagogy and critical media pedagogy into practice, using hip-hop in the secondary classroom.

Modes of Inquiry and Data
As a teacher-researcher, this author embraces the methodology of ethnographic inquiry, using “identity as an analytic lens for research in education” (Gee 2000). The primary modes of inquiry include personal narrative, autoethnography, and reflexivity. The data source for this presentation includes student-writing, interviews, field notes, narrative reflection, and video footage.

Conclusions and Significance
This author presents an argument for more research on the ways teachers can engage urban youth in HHBE from a place of authenticity. Research on how teachers and students see themselves in their relationship to hip-hop necessitates more inquiry in spaces that engage the elements of hip-hop culture for teaching and learning.

References
Ball, A. F. & Ellis, P. (2008). Identity and the writing of culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Fisher, M. T. (2007). Writing in rhythm: Spoken word poetry in urban classrooms. New York, N.Y: Teachers College Press.
Freire, P., & Macedo, D. P. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word & the world. South Hadley, Mass: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
Gee, J. P. (2000). Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of Research in Education, 25, 99-125.
Hill, M. L. (2009). Beats, rhymes, and classroom life: Hip-hop pedagogy and the politics of identity. Teachers College Press.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 32, No. 3, 465-491.
Low, B. E. (2011). Slam school: Learning through conflict in the hip-hop and spoken word classroom. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Morrell, E., Duenas, R., Garcia, V, and Lopez, J. (2013). Critical media pedagogy: Teaching for achievement in city schools. New York: Teachers College Press

Author

• Brian Mooney, Teachers College, Columbia University