Introduction

Hip Hop, En-voicing and Agency

Authors

  • Adam Haupt University of Cape Town
  • Quentin E Williams University of the Western Cape
  • H Samy Alim University of California

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.37839

Keywords:

agency, en-voicing, hip hop activism, representational politics

Abstract

This special issue demonstrates our assertion that hip hop activists and artists' voicing of their creative and critical positions through performance, activism and educational exchanges are political acts that challenge hegemony. Artists and activists from diverse locations exercise agency through acts of en-voicing, be it on stage, in the music studio, in a workshop, in a classroom or on the streets. The act of representing the voice in hip hop activism is essential in the face of systemic racism. JWPM 5.1 and 5.2 offer a sense of the diverse forms of critical and creative engagement by hip hop scholars, artists and activists. We find many resonances in their work, particularly when it comes to efforts to amplify the voices of subjects who operate at the margins in their respective contexts.

Author Biographies

  • Adam Haupt, University of Cape Town

    Adam Haupt is Professor in the Centre for Film & Media Studies at the University of Cape Town and the author of Static: Race and Representation in Post-Apartheid Music, Media and Film (HSRC Press, 2012) and Stealing Empire: P2P, Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion (HSRC Press, 2008). He is co-editor of the forthcoming Neva Again: Hip Hop Art, Activism and Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa with Quentin Williams, Emile Jansen and H. Samy Alim. He is also co-producing an EP for this book with hip hop artist Bradley Lodewyk (a.k.a. b-boy King Voue).   

  • Quentin E Williams, University of the Western Cape

    Quentin E. Williams is a Senior Lecturer in the Linguistics Department at the University of the Western Cape, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR). He has published papers on hip hop, marginality, linguistic citizenship and performance. He is co-editor of the journal Multilingual Margins: a Journal of Multilingualism from the Periphery, published by the CMDR. He recently published Remix Multilingualism (Bloomsbury, 2018) and co-edited Neva Again: Hip Hop Art, Activism and Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa with Adam Haupt, H. Samy Alim and Emile Jansen (HSRC Press, 2019).   

  • H Samy Alim, University of California

    H. Samy Alim is the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair in the Social Sciences and Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Founding Director of the Center for Race, Ethnicity, andLanguage (CREAL). His most recent books include Raciolinguistics: How Language Shapes Our Ideas about Race (Oxford, 2016, with John Rickford and Arnetha Ball) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World (Teachers College Press, 2017, with Django Paris).

References

Alim, H. Samy, and Django Paris. 2017. “What Is Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Why Does It Matter?” In Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Educational Justice, edited by Django Paris and H. Samy Alim, 157–74. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.

Haupt, Adam. 2008. Stealing Empire: P2P, Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion. Cape Town: HSRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.36670

—2012. Static: Race and Representation in Post-Apartheid Music, Media and Film. Cape Town: HSRC Press.

Haupt, Adam, Quentin E. Williams and H. Samy Alim. 2018. “Introduction: It’s Bigger than Hip Hop”. Journal of World Popular Music 5/1: 9–14.

Hebdige, Dick. 1979. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London and New York: Routledge.

Downloads

Published

2018-12-28

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 2 (2018): Hip Hop Activism and Representational Politics

Section

Introduction to Special Issue

License

© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

For information regarding our Open Access policy, click here.

How to Cite

Haupt, A., Williams, Q. E., & Alim, H. S. (2018). Introduction: Hip Hop, En-voicing and Agency. Journal of World Popular Music, 5(2), 147-151. https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.37839