Hip Hop Pedagogies: Education for Citizenship in Brazil and the United States (2023-2024)

This multiyear project brings together scholars, artists and students from Duke, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and the Federal Rural University in Rio de Janeiro to investigate key forms of activism and cultural organizing that reaches Black and poor youth in urban Brazil. In 2023-2024, the team focused on exploring and inventorying the educational techniques developed by Instituto Enraizados to encourage defense of rights and active citizenship.

In August of 2023, several members of the team traveled to Rio de Janeiro to meet Black female politicians and participated in a Black Women’s March as well as work closely with local partners at the Instituto Enraizados and the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. The team produced two films about the visit that have since been shown in classrooms and events.

During the academic year, the team learned the historical and methodological foundations of community organizing oriented around hip hop in contemporary Brazil and collaborated on a range of outputs, including:

Public-facing events such as a panel during a week of activities celebrating 50 years of hip hop
Two conference presentations
The translation of an article by one of the team’s Brazilian collaborators
A ten-day visit by Dudu de Morro Agudo, the founder of Enraizados and creator of the RapLab methodology

During the visit, Dudu and team members presented at a conference in Asheville, North Carolina, met with local rappers in Durham and spent two days with Montu Miller on the Hip Hop Scene in Athens, Georgia to visit a high school and an ambitious training center for youth, and participate in a monthly open mike event with 120 participants.

The team also worked closely with Dr. Kisha Daniels from the Program in Education to support Duke students who learned the RapLab methodology and implemented it at a public Durham middle school. Dudu joined the students on two successive Fridays, the second to record their songs. One team member produced a short documentary about the collaboration.

In June and August of 2024, team members will travel to Brazil again to begin the next phase of collaborative work, including widening the research focus to include activism and culture in the Baixada Fluminense that relates to and extends beyond the hip hop pedagogies that were considered in this project.

Timing

Summer 2023 – Spring 2024

Team Outputs

Facilitator guide and video lessons in English and Portuguese for RapLab methodology

Documentation of application of RapLab methodology in university and community settings

Workshops and lesson plans for public schools on RapLab methodology

Documentary films

Hip Hop Pedagogies: Education for Citizenship in Brazil and the United States (Interactive display presented at Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 17, 2024)