Contesting colonial histories and pursuing an "Other" knowledge: A comparative study on non-formal education created by and for youth

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Abstract

Equality in education is essential to democratic, inclusive societies. Historically speaking, education has sometimes played a significant in the administration of difference (race/ethnicity) and (non)citizenship. Using a postcolonial critique of knowledge my work is based on the postulation that “there can be no social justice without cognitive justice” (Boaventura de Sousa Santos). The work I concluded for my PhD dissertation includes a broad-reaching effort to interrogate the politics of knowledge and enduring colonial legacies – as experienced by urban Native American youth in the USA and youth from communities of African origin in Portugal. As part of a methodological approach, I used hip-hop – a cultural movement composed of rap, DJ music, breakdance, and graffiti – to examine how youth from these specific communities access knowledge denied in schools, give revolutionary voice to their realities and broadcast their perspective on racial, generational, social and gender identity. More significantly, hip-hop becomes a medium to create interventions specific to the needs of youth in these communities. When knowledge is negated in institutions of learning and knowledge production, non-formal education created by youth is a powerful force in re-affirming tradition and transformation.
In San Francisco, California, I studied a multimedia project developed by Native hip-hop artists for urban inter-tribal Native youth (many of them racially and ethnically mixed). “Native [American] Hip-Hop” is a contentious agora that deconstructs hegemonic definitions and stereotypical images of “Indians.” The ramifications of genocide and ethnocide go well beyond identity politics. While education and urban relocation sought to eradicate tribal/collective existences through assimilation, Native American artists regard hip-hop as a medium to maintain cultural knowledge, language, and traditions unique to each tribe/nation. I attended workshops, various community events and afterschool programs. I interviewed young people who took part in these projects while participating in some of their activities in order to understand how such urban community dynamics helped young people build self-esteem as contemporary, often biracial individuals who grew up far away from life on reservations. Contributing to previous studies of urban Native youth engaged in constructing community, I examine how young people in San Francisco affirm their contemporary presence in that city while redefining the borders and geographies of Indian Country through their savvy with digital media. Not only does this project give voice to Native youth, but invites them to take an active role in their own history-making.
In Lisbon, Portugal, rap deconstructs colonial discourses of racial miscegenation that exclude second-generation descendants of African immigrants, whose countries were once colonized by Portugal, from inclusion within the Portuguese national project. As these communities are predominately Cape Verdean, the linguistic divisions between the national rap industry in Portuguese and underground rap in Cape Verdean creole (kriolu) are relevant since minoritized languages and histories are typically ignored or negated in schools. I came to know the underground hip-hop community by attending their shows throughout central and peripheral Lisbon. The more I interacted with the underground hip-hop scene, the wider and more constant was my access to their constant exchange knowledge/information, books, ideas, and dialogue. Or rather, a bottom-up, feet on the ground perspective: the personal encounters with race and racism, the role of community in confronting day-to-day struggles and making one’s way in a hostile place, debating dominant history while continuing the search for alternative his (and her) stories. By attending educational workshops and the grassroots productions of rap, youth and young adults (many born in Portugal) speak of their experiences and mobilize around them. Africa often becomes a central reference for deconstructing enduring colonial discourses as part of their demands for equal citizenship. In this process, they become active agents of learning and knowledge-production in an empowering personal struggle against the self-abnegating force of colonial discourse.
In each of these cases, we see how the perspectives, actions and reactions of youth in each of these communities may contribute to research and praxis on Indigenous and minoritized youths’ civic enfranchisement and empowerment. As I argue, the creation of alternative education models included in my study have much to teach the mainstream societies of the U.S.A and Portugal about democratic ideals and the right to difference – especially in placing youth at the forefront of analyzing and contesting the enduring impacts of colonial history.

Author

• Miye Nadya Tom, Center of Social Studies, University of Coimbra