Publication: Hip Hop’s Organic Pedagogues: Teaching, Learning, and Organizing in Dakar and New York

Publication: Hip Hop’s Organic Pedagogues: Teaching, Learning, and Organizing in Dakar and New York – Between Non-Profits and Social Movements

von Saman Hamdi

What can Hip Hop culture and its art forms (dance, rap, DJing, graffiti/style writing) contribute to the development of individuals, communities, and even society?

To answer this question, this book delves into Hip Hop activism in social work, education, and political movements in New York and Dakar. It follows the work of Hip Hop practitioners who teach their art forms in high schools, in neighborhood centers, in prisons, and at scene events. These activists use Hip Hop culture’s Afro-diasporic practices for community building and social justice struggles in the hope for a better future. Drawing on 40 interviews and extensive ethnographic research, the author looks at various projects of resistance. Building on Gramscian terminology, he differentiates between Hip Hop’s organic intellectuals (movement organizers), and the culture’s organic pedagogues (educators). The latter are DJs, rappers, dancers, and graffiti artists (style writers), who bring their cultural practices into classrooms. The book follows these pedagogues and their students in their own words and critically explores their teaching methods, social-justice-driven curricula, and mentoring approaches. 

https://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de/handle/3/isbn-978-3-86395-645-5