Hip-Hop Pedagogy: Changing the Way We Teach Higher Education
Wordsand photographs by Makeda Viechweg
Moststudents attend classes structured in a traditional way: teacher-centered,historians as references, four closed walls, and strict, academic curriculum.But what if the best way to learn focused more on non-traditional, studentengaging, modern-day events and influences, and learning outside the classroom?
Thiswas the question addressed at the Hip-Hop and Pedagogy workshop at the CUNYGraduate Center last month.
Thisdiscussion was part of “The University Worth Fighting For,” a series ofworkshops - sponsored by the FuturesInitiative- that tie student-centered, engaged pedagogical practices to institutionalchange, race, equality, gender, and social justice.
Moderatedby Futures Initiative fellow Kashema Hutchinson, the workshop was conducted asa cypher - a freestyling or battling event takingplace in a circle derived from hip-hop culture. The organizers arranged chairs in an angle for more space, andhip-hop infographics decorated the walls as a way to break the traditionaleducative space setting.
YadiraVargas, a participant in the workshop, shared her reasons why hip-hop should beseen through an academic lens. “The authors that we encounter in the classroomare old, dead, European descent people,” said Vargas, a student at CUNY’s LaGuardiaCommunity College. “When it doesn’t reflect the youth reality...itcontributes to poor grades, behavioral issues and dropping out of school.”
Hiphop can help connect traditional education with popular culture and aid inlearning. To test this idea, participant Steven Pacheco, a student at John JayCollege of Criminal Justice, asked the audience, “Put your hands in the air ifyou listen to hip hop.” When a majority of hands went up high, Pacheco thankedthe audience for its honesty.
Allparticipants in the workshop “kept it real” by dressing to represent hip-hopculture. “If you saw me like how I’mdressed right now in South Bronx, I’d probably look a lot more menacing andintimidating,” said Pacheco. “But I also argue if you saw me in a suit thingswould be a lot different. I feel the violence of hip-hop not being accepted ineducation every day.”
ParticipantKia Thomas, a CCNY Black Studies major, highlighted the importance of keepingblack women front and center in the conversation. “A black woman’s perspectiveinside of and participating with hip-hop can inform the student’s understandingof various complex topics such as intersectionality, institutional injustice,and radical black feminism,” she said.
Touchingon Thomas’s comment, Pacheco pointed out a startling observation.
“Thereare three black men in this room,” noted Pacheco to a silent room. “If you lookat society, where do black men have an opportunity to self-determine what theirnarrative is? […] I would say hip-hop. If education is supposed to be the primecredible messenger of rhetoric, discourse, analysis - all of the elite thingsin society and we’re not here, what do you think is going to happen?”
FoundingDirector of the Futures Initiative Cathy N. Davidson stressed the importance ofcentering student voices in the discussion about changing the way highereducation is taught. “I don’t understand education if it isn’t for the peoplewe’re educating,” said Davidson.
“Iknow that we have funding for guest speakers,” Hutchinson added. “But Ithought, if we are going to do this, we’re going to do it through the students,the people we’re educating...why not give the students a platform. I wantedthem to tell their story.”
For upcoming events go to futuresinitiative.org
