Bowie State University will offer a new academic minor program in hip-hop studies and visual culture in the fall 2016 semester, according to BSYou, a weekly newsletter from the school.
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The program’s curriculum will draw on the arts, technology, media, history and literature to expand opportunities for critical discussion, collaborative research and creative projects. Students will engage with hip-hop scholars, artists and pioneers through guest lectures, hands-on workshops and field trips, notes the newsletter.
“We are trying to encourage critical research. Hip-hop is not just music; it’s a culture,” said associate professor Tewodross Melchishua, coordinator of Bowie State’s visual communication and digital media arts, or VCDMA, program. Melchishua is a member of the Universal Zulu Nation, founded by hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa and an award-winning filmmaker. Since 2008 he has taught hip-hop visual culture at Bowie State, the university’s only hip-hop-based course.
There are new courses currently being developed by Bowie State faculty: a course on hip-hop’s roots in African and African-American culture and its societal impact; a hip-hop studio course focused on visual-arts design; and a course exploring black contemporary music and its impact on society. Helen Hayes Award-nominated playwright, director and actor Greg Morrison will also teach a hip-hop theater course he developed to introduce students a unique form of musical theater.
“By understanding hip-hop and the possibilities of incorporating it into education for the youth inside and outside the classroom, the potential to create positive change is boundless,” said Amber Matthews, a senior majoring in VCDMA.
Melchishua says that a student in any discipline could benefit from studying hip-hop culture.
“Hip-hop studies can complement any existing area of study from education to marketing to technology or cultural studies,” he said. “Hip-hop is universal—it brings together a lot of diverse people from around the world.”
Read more at BSYou.
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