"What Really Goes On": Exploring a University-Based Critical Hip-Hop Pedagogy Teacher Education Course

Recently there has been a call to disrupt the continuous cycle of (re)production from within university-based programs through the development of transformative approaches rooted in the cultural norms of traditionally marginalized populations. This study aimed to explore how one such approach, critical hip-hop pedagogy (CHHP), manifests within the formal university-based teacher education setting. Focusing on one specific course in a prestigious, Northeastern university, this study explores how the course was conceptualized, enacted, experienced and interpreted by both the professor and twelve enrolled teachers in the Spring 2017 semester. Through qualitative case study methodology the purpose of this study was to: (1) document the ways that one CHHP teacher educator carves out space for his work amidst the politically charged teacher education space; (2) document and analyze the pedagogical moves embedded in the praxis of one teacher educator who teaches a university-based course designed to prepare teachers to utilize hip-hop cultural artifacts and aesthetics to critical educational ends; and (3) document and analyze the ways in which enrolled pre-service teachers experience, conceptualize, and interpret these practices. Four key findings are presented: (1) the professor conceptualized and enacted the course as a means of disrupting dominant narratives about acceptable and effective approaches to teaching and learning; (2) his enactments of CHHP embodied hip-hop cultural practices and aesthetics through his (re)conceptualization of teacher as MC; (3) the course’s structure through the aesthetics and rules of engagement of the hip-hop cypher provided a variety of ways for students to actively participate in the processes of knowledge production; (4) enrolled teachers reported new understandings of hip-hop as culture, resulting in shifts in perspectives on key issues impacting education and their visions for themselves as educators. Given these findings, this study suggests that the professor’s construction and enactment of the course resulted in an immersive experience in which he taught through a CHHP framework rather than about it, as is often seen in courses claiming similar critical multicultural and culturally relevant approaches, creating a dynamic immersive cultural experience for the enrolled teachers