Culturally Appropriating Pedagogies? The Dreams, Possibilities, and Pitfalls of Teaching and Learning Hip-Hop Pedagogies

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: Racial Literacies and Pedagogies

Abstract

Drawing on collaborative self-study research conducted by a Black, male teacher educator and two White female reading specialists who co-teach spoken word poetry workshops in urban public middle schools, this paper offers insights into the instructional and relational challenges teachers and teacher educators may face when attempting to use hip-hop pedagogies for social justice in secondary English Language Arts and English Education classrooms. Two primary findings emerge: 1) teachers with limited cultural and content knowledge of hip-hop struggled to negotiate the lines between cultural appropriation and cultural exchange, and 2) the intersections of teachers’ racial, cultural, and gender identities informed their respective practices and behaviors in a number of interesting ways.

Author

• H. Bernard Hall, West Chester University of Pennsylvania