I've Got a Bird's-Eye View: Portraits of Asian American Women Educators Practicing Hip-Hop Pedagogy

• In Event: You Know How We Do It: Hip-Hop Pedagogy in the Classroom, Counseling, and Life

Abstract

In the last decade, Asian American educational research has begun emerging and expanding into different areas of inquiry including the potential and proficiency of Asian American teachers and educational leaders. While this is notable and exciting, there is still very little research that richly documents the practices (and ultimately, the potential and proficiency) of Asian American women educators. Moved by the urgency to expand and deepen research on Asian American women educators, this paper centers four Asian American women educators who practice hip-hop pedagogy. As a pedagogical, theoretical, and methodological tool, hip-hop pedagogy is a practice of opposition that disrupts traditional schooling methods of assessment and discipline while reflecting the cultural values and needs of learners (Fischer, 2012; Love, 2012; Akom, 2009; Brown, 2008). As such, the participants in this paper either identified themselves as hip-hop pedagogues, have been identified by others as hip-hop pedagogues, and/or have embraced the interpretation of their pedagogies as hip-hop.
This paper employs portraiture as methodology (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1983; 1994; 2005) to trace the participants’ hip-hop origin stories and the influence that hip-hop has had on their pedagogical practices. Data collected from interviews and observations present detailed, artful illustrations of who these educators are, how they teach, why they teach, and the benefits of their hip-hop pedagogical practices. Careful examination of the educators’ individual and collective stories calls attention to the value of hip-hop pedagogy as employed by Asian American women and the possibilities of an emerging thread of hip-hop pedagogy: Asian American womanist hip-hop pedagogy.

Author

• Cindy Huynh, San Jose City College