Abstract
Hip-hop pedagogy is an impactful branch of culturally responsive pedagogy in today's humanities classrooms. As the founding theorist of culturally responsive teaching, Dr. Gloria Ladsen-Billings, regarding hip-hop pedagogy stated, “Hip-hop can be an important cultural vehicle for connecting with new century students…the anthropologist in me believes that it is important to know as much about a culture with which you work as possible.” Dr. Joan Morgan first coined the term hip-hop feminism, which she defined in her notable memoir, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down. This chapter highlights how a humanities professor at an HBCU taught an online English course that was focused on hip-hop feminism and Black women's digital communications in hip-hop culture from past to present. This chapter has implications for online teaching, hip-hop pedagogy, teaching college English, culturally responsive pedagogy, and student writing.
TopBackground
The Special Topics English course, “Hip-Hop Women” was created to give students a humanities course option that was different than what they had been exposed to in the past, as an English course that would meet a general education requirement and focus on hip hop culture.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Hip-Hop Pedagogy: Instructional practices geared toward bringing hip-hop culture performance, scholarship, and media into the classroom.
Digital Text: Texts that are mainly accessed or posted in digital or online formats.
Rubric: Educational tool and document used to clearly state the categories, requirements, and descriptions of the categories and requirements students should adhere to for a given assignment. The rubric states the standard in which students should meet in order to fulfill the task guidelines.
Misogyny: Views, words, and beliefs that reveal maltreatment, gender bias, and discrimination toward women which may hinder a woman’s career, financial, emotional, and psychological growth and well-being.
Hip-Hop Scholarship: Academic research, journal articles, and textbooks focused on questions, problems, data, and phenomena having to do with hip-hop culture and those who study it.
Blackboard Learn: Online learning portal where online courses are published.
Hip-Hop Studies: Related to the incorporation of hip-hop music, aesthetics, scholarship, and media merging with the teaching of academic disciplines.
HBCU: This means Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Hip-Hop Feminism: A theory and terminology first coined by hip-hop scholar, Dr. Joan Morgan. Black feminist scholarship merged with hip-hop scholarship; where the concerns and politics of hip-hop generation women are valued and brought to the forefront in offering critical questions and solutions for bias and ill treatment of women in hip-hop culture.
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: A theory created by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings which characterizes curriculum and instruction that is student-centered and embraces the cultures and diverse identities students bring with them into the classroom.