AFR 207
Hip-Hop and Political Theory Fall 2013
Division II
Cross-listed PSCI 212
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Class Details

This course is an introduction into the theoretical underpinnings of the genesis and evolution of hip-hop, a late modern phenomenon whose forms are routinely referred to as a movement, a culture, a music, and a politics. Since its emergence in the South Bronx during the late 1970s, what constitutes the organizing definitions and philosophical bulwarks of hip-hop are often underexplored. The course illuminates such submerged, neglected, and contested bodies of knowledge by focusing on eight concepts: justice, rights, recognition, freedom, equality, democracy, love, and judgment. Through these principles, students are able to address how we frame questions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, authenticity, the public sphere, incarceration, and globalization. Our meetings consider the popular and the underground, the originally forged and the remixed, the utility of nomenclature bifurcating conscious and radical hip-hop on the one hand and alternative modes following the logic of neoconservatism and neoliberalism on the other, examining throughout the interplay among language, aesthetics, and form. We investigate as well whether hip-hop in the United States and around the world is intrinsically a political, anti-political, or neutral force in the realm of politics. Written texts, lyrical thought, breaking, film, music videos, and guest lectures by rappers, R&B singers, DJs, academics, and graffiti artists are interwoven in assignments and in-class discussions. Through these mediums and select experiential education opportunities outside the classroom, students have an opportunity to render evaluations on the political theory of hip-hop between past and future.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 25
Expected: 20
Class#: 1108
Grading: OPG
Requirements/Evaluation: attendance and participation, two 5- to 7-page essays, and choice of a final 10-page paper or final project; students opting for a final project must receive instructor approval and convey the contours of a core course concept
Extra Info: through one of the following mediums:video interviews with visiting artists and scholars, a PowerPoint presentation, original song, mixtape, or combined multimedia presentation
Extra Info 2: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis
Prerequisites: none; open to all
Enrollment Preferences: none
Distributions: Division II
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
PSCI 212 Division II AFR 207 Division II

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