The Hip-Hop Paradigm:
Mapping and Transcending its Boundaries
An Academic and Community Meeting
The University of Michigan
March 23 - 24, 2001
The Hip-Hop and Cultural Studies Collective was conceived in the summer
of 1999 by graduate students at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
It was imagined initially as a central space, run by an organization of
individuals to advance the study of hip-hop culture. This group of scholars
determined the mission of the Collective: to collect and synthesize hip-hop
scholarship and cultural production, to document the development of the
social movement, to promote and diversify the study of hip hop in the academy
and to provide community access to comprehensive and valuable information.
In
the more than three decades of hip-hop cultural expression, we have seen
the emergence of at least four concrete forms of discourse (i.e. dance,
deejaying, emceeing, and graffiti art). However, we have also noticed
the explosion of hip-hop aesthetics (i.e. definitions of beauty or quality)
in various domains of social life and experience including fashion, literature,
cinema, and advertising to name only a few. At the dawn of the twenty-first
century, these developments force us to ask whether and in what ways the
boundaries of hip-hop culture can be defined. Within this culture,
what common patterns of thought, action, and expression have emerged?
If there is a hip-hop nation, where does it live, and what is the nature
of its constitution? The Hip-Hop and Cultural Studies Collective
invites interested parties to join us in dialogue at our upcoming conference
so that we might begin to map and to renegotiate the boundaries of the
hip-hop cultural sphere.
This
conference will explore the emergence of hip-hop culture as both a site
of expression and as a subject of critical analysis. Through this
event the Hip-Hop and Cultural Studies Collective seeks to clarify and
to strengthen the relationships between the various arenas in which hip-hop
culture is produced and consumed, including artistic, activist and, academic
communities.
Submission
Guidelines:
Abstracts
or brief descriptions of all works should be submitted by February 1st,
2001 and should be of no more than 200 words. Paper prizes will be
awarded with the possibility of publication, and only those wishing to
be considered in competition must submit completed papers by March 1st,
2001. The February 1st deadline includes proposals for artistic and audiovisual
presentations. Proposals should entail: a brief description of the
contents of the presentation, the number of presenters, and any equipment
necessary.We invite paper, panel,
and presentation proposals in subject areas including but not limited to:
qBoundaries
in Hip-Hop Communities and Cultures
qRace,
Class, and Gender Issues in Hip Hop
qRepresentations
of Sex and Sexuality
qProduction
vs. Consumption in Hip Hop
qFemale
Agency and Subjectivity in Hip Hop
qDefinitions
of Hip Hop
qViolence
in Hip Hop
qArtists
as Role Models
qHip
Hop in the Capitalist System
qTechnology
and the Development of Hip-Hop Culture
qHip
Hop in the Academy
qHip-Hop
Cinema
qRepresentations
of Hip Hop in the Media
qStyle
and Fashion
qHip
Hop and Black Business
qHip
Hop as a Teaching Device
qUnderground
vs. Commercial Hip Hop
qThe
Globalization of Hip-Hop Culture
qAuthenticity
and Minstrelsy in the Performance of Blackness
qHip
Hop, Religion, and Spirituality
qThe
Generational Divide in Hip Hop
qHip
Hop and Community Activism
Please
submit materials and current contact information via e-mail at hiphopconf@umich.edu
or old school mail to:
The Hip-Hop and Cultural Studies Collective
The University of Michigan
249 Trotter House
1443 Washtenaw Ave.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Please direct any concerns or questions to Shawan
Wade at conference.questions@umich.edu
: Click
here for information related to travel and accommodations.