Griot in the Rapso: Street Poetry in the Classroom?

• In Event: Cultural Expressions and Creativity in Education: Voices From Africa and the Caribbean

Abstract

The paper explores and reviews perspectives that might may facilitate the use of the Rapso art form and movement in to developing localized and globally connected knowledge. We hope also that the paper will add to the knowledge-base regarding the changing roles in Africa and the Caribbean of griots and griottes, despite the on-going debate on the use of the term (Hale, 2007).
Described as the power of the word in the rhythm of the word, the poetry of calypso, the consciousness of soca, and as street poetry (Brother Resistance, 2011), Rapso continues to grow in popularity in Trinidad and Tobago (Trinbago), and indeed the world over.
Rapso emerged through the oral tradition, a fruit of the Chantwell or African griot. Rapso reflects the biting lyrical mastery of the midnight robber and the Pierrot Grenade, traditional Trinbagonian carnival characters. Rapso is identified as more than just art, but as a nationalist, anti-colonial movement with roots in the Black Power movement of Trinbago in the 1970s (Boyce-Davies, 2008). The main advocates and artistes associated with Rapso are committed to placing indigenous music centre-stage and making a statement against neo-colonial elements (Sadre-Orafi, 2005). The blending of the poetic style with skin- and/or steelband-drumming is called Rapso riddum (Boyce-Davies, 2008).
Historically, it is noted that Rapso evolved simultaneously with Jamaica’s dub and the US’s rap music forms. As this street poetry stands at the doorway of the classroom, Rapso artists threaten to boom up his-story (and her-story) and to retell the story, demystify the truths, and set us free (3 Canal, 2008). We propose that, as an art form that gives voice to the oppressed, including students, it can also be used to make education action-oriented, consciousness- building, and more readily accepted by disaffected or cynical youth.
This is a self-study of two senior educators intersecting the cross-currents of critical and culturally responsive pedagogy, and post/anticolonial, pro-global, and localized education. The co-researchers use multiple means of representing associated artefacts and findings through video clips, audio clips, and rapso in sharing their voices as poetically conscious educators. The representation of findings will likewise include rapso and video.
Indications are that the Rapso movement is very much alive as popular culture. One of the co-researchers has expressed a perspective that teachers might be resistant to Rapso as a curriculum initiative because of its association with “resistance”, which might prove to be a distracting element when students should be fully engaged in academic activities. Another co-researcher sees. Rapso as a dynamic means of presenting, expressing, engaging with and constructing transformative knowledge. We expect that the eventual findings will bring critical perspectives to the discussion table.
It is anticipated that this self-study will place centre-stage the discussion of the role of education in developing countries. We believe that in sharing the experiences and voices of these well-known educators, other teachers will be motivated to utilize Rapso and other indigenously poetic approaches to engage learners.

Authors

• Dennis Conrad, State University of New York

• Beulah Forteau Jaikaransingh, Ministry of Education

• Dyanis Popova, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University