THE POETICS OF EXISTENCE: Poems as Critical Literacies of Hip-Hop Based Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 7:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Remixing Curriculum: Pedagogies, Technologies, and Literacies (Table 4)

Abstract

Hip-hop is an aesthetic, lifestyle, and musical genre birthed out of the linguistic and cultural practices from Black and Brown youth on the westside of The Bronx, NY in 1973. Hip-Hop pedagogy embodies Hip-Hop ways of knowing, linked to young people’s transient and static identities that reflect the realities of urban youth (Love, 2019; Kelly, 2020). Embodying themes that represent power and identity, Hip-Hop is an art form displaying resistance through the necessity for voices to be seen and heard where marginalized stories are being demonized, degraded and rewritten. Considering spoken word poetry a critical literacy of Hip-Hop Based Education (Hill, 2009), this exploratory poetic commentary presents the way I use poetry as a mechanism for critiquing power structures, exploring liberatory narratives, and interpreting communal practices through music. I explore themes of culture, identity, and the ongoing movement towards Black liberation. The purpose is to provide insight to educators on understanding spoken word as a cultural praxis while empowering marginalized voices who consider poetry as a method to teach, heal, learn, and exist.

Author

• Imani J. Wallace, University of Massachusetts - Amherst