What is hip Hop literacy?:
five approaches to Hip Hop as Literate or discursive practice
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Hip Hop Literacies by Elaine Richardson
"Why study Hiphop discourse? Hiphop is a rich site of cultural production that has pervaded and been pervaded by almost every American institution and has made an extensive global impact. Hiphop discourse, no matter how commodified or 'blaxploited,' offers an interesting view of the human freedom struggle and aspects of the knowledge that people have about the world . . . all Afro American narrative can be traced (in part) to an "economics of slavery" and is tied to a bill of sale. Thus, like "traditional" African American language data, Hiphop discourse tells us a lot about socioeconomic stratification and the struggle between culture and capital. Hiphop discourse, like previous Afro-American expressive forms, is a Black creative response to absence and desire and a site of epistemological development. Though it is often seen as mere corporate orchestration, Hiphop is a site of identity negotiation." (pg. 9) |
Elaine Richardson teaches at Ohio State University as a "Professor of Literacy Studies, Department of Teaching and Learning. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Cleveland State University, and the Ph.D. from Michigan State University .Dr. Richardson's research interests include language, literacy, and discourse practices of Afro diasporic cultures, sociolinguistics, critical discourse studies, the education and literacy of Afro diasporic people. Richardson belongs to a network of scholars interested in Hiphop and education. Her outreach efforts include cultural literacy projects focusing on youth empowerment and mentoring." (OSU website)
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Roc the Mic Right: The Language of Hip Hop Culture by H. Samy Alim
"Since language ain't neva neutral, HHLx [Hip Hop Linguistics] interrogates the development of unequal power relations between and within groups in an effort to make a contribution to our understanding of the world around us . . . There is a reason why Hip Hop communities resist others' attempts to control their language varieties . . . As much as HHLx views the poetics of puns, wordplay, and playin with words as a source of pleasure, HHLx situates Hip Hop expression within what we know are highly politicized contexts . . . [and] larger discursive and political struggles against oppression . . . HHLx takes as its point of departure the linguistic culture of the HHN [Hip Hop Nation]. That is, language is far more than linguistic variables, polysyllabic utterances, and turn-taking in conversation, though all of those are important aspects . . . We begin with language as power, that is, the view that language is the revolution, a powerful discourse in and of itself. " (pgs. 8-10) |
H. Samy Alim is a professor of educational linguistics at Stanford University, where he also earned his MA and PhD. He studies "the relationships between language, race and ethnicity across a wide range of social, cultural and educational contexts. His research integrates rigorous linguistic analysis with in-depth, ethnographic engagement in local communities to contribute to theory and methodology in education, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and race and ethnic studies. Alim develops this knowledge with the twin goals of understanding how youth make sense of their social worlds and communities and helping them do so by impacting teacher preparation, pedagogy and policy. He has an interest in language, literacy, and youth culture, particularly Hip Hop Culture, and critical language awareness for socially marginalized and linguistically profiled populations." (Stanford website)
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"Gettin' Our Groove On": Rhetoric, Language, and Literacy for the Hip Hop Generation by Kermit E. Campbell
"[Black English] vernacular is more than just language--invariant be's, double negatives, and inverted semantics--it is rhetoric, a highly developed discursive system that claims the oral tradition of rap as its centerpiece. Digging through the crates of African and African American expressive artifacts, I pick up pieces of the vernacular rhetoric tradition from the West African griot to African American street-corner rappers, Spoken Word poets, and Hip hop artists . . . Because Hip hop has breathed new life into language learning and literacy for many urban and suburban youths, it demands to be recognized. And I propose that we do just that in a place where it is most fitting--the writing and rhetoric classroom. Institutions of higher education are a prime battleground for knowledge, but teachers and students must be engaged in battle not just against ignorance and illiteracy but against the assumption of literate knowledge and the values that sustain it in mainstream culture." (pgs. 3-4) |
Kermit Campbell is a composition and rhetoric scholar whose "influence on theory and pedagogy is at once powerful, original, and unconventional. In over 20 years of teaching, including his current position at Colgate University, Campbell has researched the use of Black English Vernacular in writing, pop culture, and everyday speech, emphasizing its rhetorical strengths and validity. In his published articles and his book, Gettin’ Our Groove On: Rhetoric, Language, and Literacy for the Hip Hop Generation, Campbell provides thought-provoking and groundbreaking analyses of Black Vernacular, from its African roots to its modern use in music. Campbell’s knowledge of traditional, Western rhetoric is extensive, and the way in which he applies this knowledge in his arguments concerning non-Western, non-traditional rhetorical practices is striking." (CompPile)
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Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere by Gwendolyn D. Pough
"The association between Hip-Hop and rap often results in people collapsing Hip-Hop and rap without fully realizing that Hip-Hop is the culture and rap is a form of music that comes out of Hip-Hop culture. Talking about Hip-Hop as a culture, not just in terms of its connection to rap, sets the stage for a wider understanding of Hip-Hop as a youth movement and as a cultural phenomenon that encompasses a variety of genres . . . [and] allow[s] us to better understand the ways in which Hip-Hop has grown and includes other elements . . . The areas in our contemporary society touched by Hip-Hop are so vast that it is sometimes difficult to look at contemporary U.S. popular culture and distinguish what is Hip-Hop and what is not . . . Understanding Hip-Hop culture is crucial to understanding its influence, particularly its influence on the lives of young Black women . . . [I examine] the role that Hip-Hop plays in the larger U.S. public sphere today in order to better ascertain the role that Black women play in both that arena and Hip-Hop seen as a counter-public sphere." (pgs. 5-6). |
Gwendolyn Pough is a professor of Women’s Studies, Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University. She studies "black feminist theory and the public sphere with an emphasis on Black public culture. She has published in several journals and anthologies. Her book, Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere, examines the tenuous relationship between black women, hip-hop culture, and feminism. Her next book-length research project explores the connection between the historical legacy of struggles for literacy and social uplift left by19th century black women and contemporary African-American women’s book clubs and reading groups. She writes fiction under the pseudonym Gwyneth Bolton." (www.wimnonline.org)
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Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity by Marc Lamont Hill
"Hip-hop has been consumed and refashioned in ways that respond to the experiences, traditions, imaginations, and desires of young people throughout the world. Such developments speak to the significance of hip-hop not only as a popular culture text, but also as a rich site for complex forms of identity work. Given the salience of hip-hop culture in the lives of many urban American youth, the educational community has begun to pay considerable attention to the pedagogical possibilities of hip-hop culture within formal school settings . . . student identities are renegotiated when hip-hop culture becomes a part of the official classroom curriculum . . . I examine the complex relationships that students and teachers forged with hip-hop course texts and one another inside [who] performed, contested, and reinscribed a variety of individual and collective identities that informed classroom pedagogy in deeply beneficial and highly challenging ways." (2-3) |
Marc Lamont Hill is a journalist and academic; he contributes to BET News and CNN and "is Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College. Prior to that, he held positions at Columbia University and Temple University. Since his days as a youth in Philadelphia, Dr. Hill has been a social justice activist and organizer. Dr. Hill is the author or co-author of four books: the award-winning Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life; The Classroom and the Cell: Conversations on Black life in America; Nobody: America’s War on Its Vulnerable from Ferguson to Baltimore and Beyond (July 2016); and Gentrifier (June 2016). Trained as an anthropologist of education, Dr. Hill holds a Ph.D. (with distinction) from the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the intersections between culture, politics, and education."(www.marclamonthill.com)
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The best rap performances reflect the tensions apparent between dominant and subordinate discourses ... Black social actors reject imposed definitions and seek to reinscribe their own versions of reality from their perspective. |
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BET is refusing to air [The Minstrel Show's] first video, "Lovin' It" because it is 'too intelligent for the BET audience.'
