English 121B Composition: Social Issues (Hip Hop and the Political ...
Source: depts.washington.edu
Topic: Hip Hop
Sort Desciption: Hip hop is something we live." But what does it mean to 'live' hip hop? What. constitutes hip hop as a unique social imaginary, a way of life, as a specific ...
Content Inside: English 121B Composition: Social Issues (Hip Hop and the Political Imagination) Course Overview Rapper and cultural critic KRS-One has often been quoted as saying, "Rap is something we do. Hip hop is something we live." But what does it mean to live hip hop? What constitutes hip hop as a unique social imaginary, a way of life, as a specific cultural movement? Are there differences between one who practices the four elements (mc, dj, b-boy/b-girl, graffiti artist) and the audience who purchases and consumes rap music and hip hop performance? What kinds of social, political and cultural issues are on the table when artists, intellectuals and politicians talk about hip hop, or perhaps more precisely, how do young folks who identify with hip hop culture engage social issues like education, economics, law, gender and sexuality, race and racism? Role of Service Learning in Course This course explicitly raises the vexed question of the effectiveness of culturally-based politics or, as Paul Gilroy has observed, the difficulty in “founding a cultural politics that remains political.” Because the course will pursue a pragmatic approach to the ‘exploration’ of the political imagination of hip hop, I would like to incorporate as many service learning sites and experiences as possible. While hip hop expression has often been described as a kind of ‘polyvocal,’ conversation among global youth, as scholar Tricia Rose points out, these conversations can seem like pure performances and/or even “irrational” when removed from the specific “social contexts where everyday struggles over resources, pleasure, and meanings take place.” Ideally then, students’ service learning experiences would give them an opportunity to reflect upon the local social context here in Seattle, while simultaneously examining some of the larger “conversations” happening in hip hop. In other words, my hope is that students will be able to find placements that allow th ...
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