As evidence of the positive impact hip-hop has on student learning and success, it is estimated that over three hundred classes on hip-hop are being offered at colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad, including the University of California–Berkeley, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Princeton University, the University of Massachusetts, and Columbia University. In 1991, Howard University became the first university to bring hip-hop to the academy through a student run conference. Currently there are hip-hop archives at both Harvard and Stanford Universities. Carleton College in Minnesota will soon offer hip-hop studies as a minor, as will Howard University. In August 2006, in Chemnitz, Germany, the inaugural Hip-Hop Meets Academia conference was held drawing hundreds of scholars, activists and artists from around the world. Last year the University of Wisconsin–Madison, through the Office of Multicultural Programs, established a comprehensive four-year interdisciplinary living-learning program focused explicitly on the study of hip-hop culture. So it is no surprise that New York University, which boasts a long tradition of hip-hop scholarship (former faculty include Tricia Rose, Robin Kelley, and Nelson George) added to this academic tradition by creating a dynamic new “Hip-Hop and Pedagogy Initiative” through the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs (aka, “the Center”) in the Division of Student Affairs. Evaluations consistently demonstrate the powerful contributions the various applications of this initiative make toward student learning and success at NYU (see the “Assessment” section).
The Hip-Hop and Pedagogy Initiative speaks to the mission of NYU in regards to being “a private university within the public service” and to the Division of Student Affairs hallmarks of advancing diversity, learning and community. Specifically, this initiative has created a powerful and organic connection with many community entities such as the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival, public school educators, the Afro-Latino Forum, the Schomburg Center for Research in Harlem, and Urban Word NYC. Additionally, the Initiative has provided numerous opportunities for New York area high school students to attend events and become informed about college. Institutionally, in relation to diversity, learning, and community, this initiative has created a renewed sense of pride and connectedness among NYU students across traditional boundaries. The Initiative has proven beneficial, educational, and compelling to those previously unfamiliar with the field, while simultaneously offering much needed affirmation to those students who feel underrepresented at NYU because of their social identities and somewhat marginalized by the existing curriculum.
The Hip-Hop and Pedagogy Initiative has fostered an organized and mutually beneficial relationship with faculty across schools, departments, and disciplines. Co-sponsorship with academic schools and student affairs departments on over 30 events and classes in the past three semesters since its inception, has resulted in shared resources, collaborative course development and team teaching, joint funding opportunities, and sustainable academic partnerships. A few of the partners include the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; the Tisch School of the Arts; the College of Arts and Sciences; the Department of Latino Studies; the Department of Africana Studies; and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute. Furthermore, the Hip-Hop and Pedagogy Initiative has created new partnerships and rejuvenated historic partnerships with a variety of student affairs counterparts such as the Admissions Office, the Wasserman Center for Career Services, the Department of Residential Education, the Office of LGBT Student Services, the Student Resource Center, the Office for International Students and Scholars, and the Office of Student Activities in support of the successful events listed below. Finally, with its originality and creativity, the Hip-Hop and Pedagogy Initiative has captured the interest of many other constituents such as senior leadership and administrators, alumni, development officers, and performing arts administrators. The following is a partial list of events and classes made possible by these collaborations:
2007-2008:
Fall 2008-present:
Upcoming Hip-Hop Pedagogy Initiative events include the following:
Outcomes are cited in the assessment section of this submission; and the quote below provides testimony typical of the whole. Highlighted here are the potentials for learning, collaboration and the meeting of critical student needs though this creative initiative:
“As evidenced this past year, in part by the collaboration between the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs and NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, hip-hop culture has a growing place in higher education and in the lives of our students. I believe the Hip-Hop and Pedagogy Initiative creates a much needed source of energy to connect and inspire students from diverse backgrounds and fields of study. The collaboration between the Center and NYU Skirball Center for the New York premiere of Marc Bamuthi Joseph's the break/s was one of the most successful events in the past five years in terms of generating student interest and participation.”
-Michael Harrington, Director, Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
Embedded and woven throughout the Hip Hop and Pedagogy Initiative are the innovative use of technology and the application of the most contemporary research. Virtually every performance, classroom activity, and workshop is multi-media and practitioners use sophisticated technological skills to connect their creative process and exchange research with colleagues globally. The mutually overlapping network of scholars and learners developing and advancing hip-hop pedagogy, curriculum, and methodology is quite astounding and could be possible only with employing technology. The many faculty and student affairs partners in the Initiative both exploit and add to this network through their scholarship, publications, and programming, and the Center serves as a guide and a clearinghouse for these efforts at NYU.
Finally, as illustrated repeatedly in this description, the Hip-Hop and Pedagogy Initiative has built a solid foundation of university and community partners, a constantly growing body of scholarship and an ethos of mutual respect and collaboration that results in a sustainable model.
Supplemental Information:
- NYU Today Article (September 15, 2008)
- Washington Square News article (October 2, 2008)
- NYC Hip-Hop Theatre Playbill article (September 23, 2008)
- Hip-Hop Theater Festival at NYU (Flyer)
- Conscious Women Rock the Page (Book Release Party)
- The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hops Greatest Songs (Flyer)
- Democracy In Dakar: Panel, Film Screening and Live Performance (Flyer)
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Wednesday, December 2
5:00 PM: Graduate Students of Color Socials
Thursday, December 3
12:30 PM: Network of BLACK Men Meeting
12:30 PM: Making it in Media
Thursday, February 4
5:00 PM: Network of BLACK Men Meeting
Thursday, February 18
12:30 PM: Network of BLACK Men Meeting
CMEP is a unit of the Division of Student Affairs
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