Broken Glass Everywhere: Deconstructing Popular Identities Through Critical Hip Hop Literacy

In a society consumed by ever-increasing media and technology, it is more important now than ever that public schools provide their students with the skills and tools necessary to analyze, interpret, deconstruct, and construct popular media images and messages. Consequently, it is the role of educators to engage with popular media in the classroom, not simply for the sake of student motivation, but for the purpose of supporting students in meaningful literacy practices. This study analyzes classroom dialogue and students’ written responses throughout a semester-long English elective course entitled, “Hip Hop Literature and Culture,” in a public high school in New York. This course was designed as a means to engage students in critical media literacy (CML) practices. Through this qualitative case study, the researcher sought to better understand how students are understanding and responding to the popular media that surrounds them, and how academic engagement with such media within a class context impacts their understandings of self, youth culture, popular culture and the social structures that ultimately impact their lives