Mental decolonization through the arts: widening the circle of benefits for whom, where, and why?

In the past thirty years, Hip hop culture, especially its expression through rap music, has become a powerful cultural force. It has been an important means of cultural survival for African Americans in the U.S. where the form developed in the 1970s, as well as a tool for mental decolonization in a variaty of global contexts. However, its recent commoditized expressions, rap has become increasingly misogynist, homophobic, and violent. At the same, women have maintained a consistent as well as contradictory presence in Hip Hop since its beginnings. They have articulated their own gendered approaches to the form through performance and theory. In this seminar we will explore a gendered method of reading rap as text. We will problematize its role as a force for transformation from three perspectives: historical trauma, psychological healing and the politics of gender.

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