Time Schedule:
Georgia M. Roberts
B CUSP 104
Bothell Campus
Examines an important social issue such as ecology, art, political change, the power of media, educational reform, or the role of science in contemporary culture through interdisciplinary investigation, and the lens of the visual, literary, and performing arts. Offered: A.
Class description
Universal Magnetic: Globalization and the Aesthetics of Hip Hop
Over the past three decades, hip hop culture, and particularly rap music, has become one of the most popular modes of youth expression on the planet. As we acknowledge both the globalization and commodification of the culture, this class also looks at hip hop as the always localized, even neighborhood-based response to the multiple and damaging effects of globalization, including but not limited to, forced migration, economic exploitation, systemic poverty, racial profiling, mass incarceration, etc. So what exactly do we mean when we talk about the globalization of hip hop culture, and what, if anything, can we generalize about hip hop's aesthetics and political imagination?
Student learning goals
* To increase student understanding of the interactions between the historical, material and political conditions that preceded hip hop culture
* To allow opportunities for students to demonstrate engagement with the topic and themes of the course in a variety of forms including formal and informal online discussions, research, the close-reading of texts, writing about music and visual culture, etc.
* To develop student's awareness of the relationship between culture, power and the construction of knowledge.
General method of instruction
* small and large group discussion, short lectures, films etc.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
* Class discussion (both in person and via BlackBoard) (10% of final grade) * Five short writing assignments (50%) * One final research paper that expands upon one of the short writing assignments, with opportunities to revise based on instructor feedback (40%)
