Processing Radical Possibilities: Sustaining and Preparing for Intifada through a Critical Cycle of Mixtape Creation

• In Event: Intifada Isn’t a Metaphor: Enacting Education Research That Shakes Sh*t Off and Heals Us

Abstract

Objectives

In light of global intifadas, and ongoing repression by colonial states and empires, this study attempts to proactively address stressors associated with uncertainty and possibility. More specifically, we make use of Critical Cycle of Mixtape Creation (CCMC) as a small-group counseling intervention that takes up youth participatory action research (YPAR). As a key part of the process, youth construct Hip Hop songs as a way of researching and processing thoughts and feelings about social injustices in the world. This CCMC will be used with high school-aged youth to process emotions associated with participation in current uprisings (e.g., via the “global intifada” for Palestine), as well as to prepare for involvement in future uprisings (e.g., as we prepare the possible acceleration of a U.S.-based fascism). The authors will be joined virtually by a “cipher” of youth participants.

Methodology and Data

The authors are sharing how their partnership with a high school in the Northeast (beginning in October, 2024) is implementing a CCMC focused on understanding ongoing global (e.g., Palestine, Sudan, Bangladesh), as well as possible, intifadas. The CCMC pulls from Hip Hop cultural notions of a “mixtape,” defined here as a youth participatory action research that documents lived experiences as they process, research and seek to address issues for social justice through Hip Hop-based media creation (e.g., songs, cover art, videos, and/or original instrumental beats; Author et al, 2018). After creating their project, youth are participating in semi-structured interviews with researchers about the Hip Hop-based media that they create, and critically reflecting upon the meaning behind their lyrics and any other content they may have produced. The CCMC is evidenced as an effective method for youth to process emotions and conceptualize what is needed to address social ills, found also to lead to reductions in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms (Author & Travis, 2020). A prior study by Author and Author (2022) found that a student used their participation in a CCMC small-group as an opportunity to write a song reflecting on the “Movement for Black Lives, and crucially the White supremacist insurrection on January 6th, 2021” (p. 2).

Theoretical Framework, Conclusions and Scholarly Significance

Prior conceptual framing and research on the CCMC mirrors the Hip Hop scholarship suggesting that Hip Hop lyricism has historically been used as a mouthpiece for truth telling and sustaining community (Alim et al., 2020) amidst systemic injustices (Akom, 2009; Ball, 2009; Chang, 2005). Decades of research suggest Hip Hop-based approaches offer youth an emotional refuge from societal stressors (Elligan, 2000; Gonzalez & Hayes, 2009; Washington, 2021).

In conversation with the work of Fanon (1952/1967), Freire (1978/2021) and Wynter (1992), initial conclusions point to larger scholarly discussions about the significance of spaces for collective processing that take into account our respective societies' “sociogenic principle.” Moreover, seeking to further the work of Fanon (1952/1967), implications will focus on how to refine and design liberatory pedagogical and healing spaces, which support mental health alongside critical consciousness development.

Authors

• Ian Levy, Rutgers University

• Casey Philip Wong, Georgia State University