Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement
Hip Hop must be seen both as a product of the brilliance and blemishes of its entrepreneurial elite and as a thriving digital underground. It possesses an inspired literature, a mass of young political activists, and movement intelligentsia. It is the spectacular convergence of these and other ideas and influences that makes hip hop one of the more compelling stories of our time. Which people and forces are vying to control a movement that has become a lucrative pop culture industry as well as an insurgent voice for the young and disenfranchised?
S. Craig Watkins is Associate Professor of Sociology, Radio-Television-Film and African/African American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement; and Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema, among other works. His teaching and research interests focus on race, media, hip hop, and, most recently, youth digital media cultures. His current research explores young people's dynamic participation in online games, social media, and communities like Facebook and MySpace. In his forthcoming book, he takes a close look at how new media behaviors are transforming youth culture, identity, and everyday life.
Wednesday, May 28
12noon