Culturally Relevant Teaching—Hip-Hop Pedagogy in Urban Schools

Viewing hip-hop culture as a form of critical pedagogy, author Prier (educational foundations and leadership, Duquesne University) looks at how educators might 'read' hip-hop culture as a text in urban pre-service teacher education programs, and in education leadership more broadly, as a way to teach future educators about the sociocultural realities of today's urban students. Prier situates rap and the culture of hip-hop as a site of democratic practice for urban black male youth and outlines three different discourses in the culture of hip-hop: social/political, gangsta, and commercial. Student narratives reveal how African American male youth negotiate hip-hop in relationship to cultural processes of identity formation. The book closes with ideas on how the culture of hip-hop can be used as a public space of resistance in urban communities. A brief glossary of hip-hop terms is included. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Darius D. Prier is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership in the School of Education at Duquesne University. He received his PhD in educational leadership from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. His recent work includes contributions to the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education; Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice; Youth Culture, Education and Resistance: Subverting the Commercial Ordering of Life (Porfilio & Carr, Eds.) and Hip-Hop(e): The Cultural Practice and Critical Pedagogy of International Hip-Hop (Porfilio & Viola, Eds.) (in press) with Peter Lang.