Restructuring Traditional Spaces: The Hip-Hop Cipher as a Contemporary Cultural Circle

• In Event: Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Perspectives on Culture, Race, and Academia

Abstract

In this paper we argue that the hip hop cyphers act as an urban youth’s contemporary
cultural circle, having various implications in educational and counseling settings. Through the lens of certain pedagogical tools, such as cultural circles and cogenerative dialogues, which are used primarily to help participants feel as if their voices were valued, we conducted a study around the implications of a local new york city hip hop cypher. Specifically we observed interactions within the cypher, acquiring field notes and audio/video transcriptions. Results from data collection suggested that if traditional mental health and classroom structures are shifted to resemble contemporary cultural circles (hip hop cyphers), there are profound implications on young people’s academical and emotional development within those spaces.

Authors

• Ian Levy, New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science II

• Edmund S Adjapong, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Christopher Emdin, Teachers College, Columbia University