We Out Here: Remixing Student Engagement via Black Women’s Hip-Hop Narratives Featuring Rapsody’s Album Eve

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Black Feminism, Voice, and Hip Hop Praxis

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of centering the narratives of Black women in hip-hop on students’ reading comprehension and writing in ELA classrooms. As an extension of hip-hop pedagogy and hip-hop feminism, I engage Black women’s hip-hop narratives (BWHN) to more incisively analyze how the specificity of Black women’s voices in the classroom shaped learning and increased critical awareness for students. Reviewing literature in Black feminist theory, culturally relevant pedagogy, hip-hop pedagogy, and assessing student engagement/learnings informs my use of BWHN and is the inspiration for the Cypher Cs. I introduce the Cypher Cs as the combination of (1)communal learning, (2) critical thinking, and (3) critical creativity—all critiquing the hegemonic structures of power frequently perpetuated in educational environments.

Author

• Eghosa Obaizamomwan-Hamilton, Stanford University