Towards a TrapCrit Perspective of Hip-Hop Education
Location
Boston 1
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
Hip-hop education is an antidote to oppressive curricular and pedagogical strategies (Emdin, 2018; Kelly, 2020). Despite hip-hop’s interrogation of oppression, discourse on hip-hop education often polices which hip-hop modes of expression are suitable for classroom consumption (Author, in press). Thus, if we are to position hip-hop education as an interrogation of oppression we must consider how we are engaging hip-hop culture and sensibilities in ways that deconstruct pervasive white narratives of respectability.
This work introduces a TrapCrit perspective of hip-hop education that acknowledges how trap music (a sub-genre of hip-hop): 1) illuminates the systematically excluded counter-narratives of individuals experiencing oppression, and 2) rejects white narratives of respectability that attempt to dictate how individuals experience and make sense of oppressive lived experiences. TrapCrit is an extension to critical race theory, and specifically draws on critical race theory’s assertion that, “the experiential knowledge of people of color is legitimate, appropriate, and critical to understanding, analyzing, and teaching about racial subordination” (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002, p. 26). Through this understanding, this work contends that trap music’s exemplification of counter-storytelling, sociopolitical awareness, and the expression of joy as refusal can deeply transform the way we think about respectability and belonging in education.
Keywords
hip-hop education, critical race theory, Blackness, Black joy
Professional Bio
Kelly R. Allen is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies in the College of Education and Human Development at Augusta University. Informed by her experiences as a high school social studies teacher, Kelly’s research explores hip hop as a Black liberatory praxis. She is the co-author of the book Teaching for Liberation: On Freedom Dreaming in the Field of Hip-Hop Education and co-founder of the Hip Hop Pedagogy Project, an initiative that aims to support educators in incorporating hip hop culture and sensibilities in educational spaces.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Allen, Kelly R., "Towards a TrapCrit Perspective of Hip-Hop Education" (2024). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 44.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2024/2024/44
Towards a TrapCrit Perspective of Hip-Hop Education
Boston 1
Hip-hop education is an antidote to oppressive curricular and pedagogical strategies (Emdin, 2018; Kelly, 2020). Despite hip-hop’s interrogation of oppression, discourse on hip-hop education often polices which hip-hop modes of expression are suitable for classroom consumption (Author, in press). Thus, if we are to position hip-hop education as an interrogation of oppression we must consider how we are engaging hip-hop culture and sensibilities in ways that deconstruct pervasive white narratives of respectability.
This work introduces a TrapCrit perspective of hip-hop education that acknowledges how trap music (a sub-genre of hip-hop): 1) illuminates the systematically excluded counter-narratives of individuals experiencing oppression, and 2) rejects white narratives of respectability that attempt to dictate how individuals experience and make sense of oppressive lived experiences. TrapCrit is an extension to critical race theory, and specifically draws on critical race theory’s assertion that, “the experiential knowledge of people of color is legitimate, appropriate, and critical to understanding, analyzing, and teaching about racial subordination” (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002, p. 26). Through this understanding, this work contends that trap music’s exemplification of counter-storytelling, sociopolitical awareness, and the expression of joy as refusal can deeply transform the way we think about respectability and belonging in education.
