Teaching Decolonial Sounds on the Margins Reflections on a K-12 Teacher Workshop Covering Black & Brown Musical Transculturation in Texas
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Feature Teaching Decolonial Sounds on the Margins Reflections on a K-12 Teacher Workshop Covering Black & Brown Musical Transculturation in Texas Marco Antonio Cervantes Introduction hop and education, hip-hop academics and White students.” Chicanos in Texas have educators continue to theorize, discuss, and long struggled for success in the public At the end of a three-day summer incorporate hip-hop into their existing ped- school system (Donato, 1997; Gonzalez, teacher workshop, I assigned K-12 teach- agogies. Hill (2009) describes academics 1990; Moreno, 1999; Valencia 2004). Like- ers to write an eight-bar rap verse about and educators who apply hip-hop to their wise there remains an achievement gap the content covered. Teachers set their research and pedagogy as “Hip Hop Based between Black youth to other groups in US pens to paper and wrote diligently as the Scholars” who have constructed a strong school systems (Ferguson, 2007; Haycock, clock ticked. By the end of the workshop, case for the pedagogical value of hip-hop in 2007; Wright, Standen, & Patel, 2010). five tables of teachers, predominately the classroom (p. 11). Hip hop pedagogues These troubling realities for urban Black White, all ages, all disciplines, completed continue to use the genre as a vehicle to: and Brown youth in the U.S. are often due their eight-bar rap verses for perfor- (a) critique social policies aimed at youth of to lack of resources and the continued mance. Even the most resistant teachers color (Chang, 2005; Rose, 1994); (b) analyze enforcement of colonial ideologies by the to hip-hop expression were engaged in linguistic hip-hop elements (Alim 2007, state’s institutions. the exercise. These teachers learned that Pennycook, 2007; Smitherman, 1997); (c) the art of rapping was more than making examine development of identity forma- Addressing Black and Brown Issues words simply rhyme and that the practice tion (Dimitriadis, 2001; Gin Wright, 2004; involves breath control, organization skills, As both groups face systematic oppres- Hill 2009; Petchauer, 2007); (d) promote sion, Black and Latina/o conflict and soli- rhythm, the ability to articulate your voice, critical literacy (Akom, 2009; Alim, 2007; and conveying messages that reflect social darity have become important sources of Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2005); and (e) discussion. Differences in language, social experience and condition. increase student engagement and critical The often underlying resistance of class, citizenship, and views on race have at consciousness, (Dimitriadis, 2001; Mahiri, times led to major points of hostility. Not- teachers toward hip-hop is due to a number 1998; Pardue, 2004; Stovall, 2006). of factors, including policy practices. Over ing past political conflicts between Blacks and Latina/os, legal scholar Vaca (2004) the past few years, members of the Texas Opportunities for Education State Board of Education have worked to predicts a dismal future for Black and La- disavow hip-hop music in the classroom, Hip Hop as well as other musical tina/o relations because of the increasing claiming it does not belong as part of the forms linked to the genre provide oppor- Latina/o presence in the United States. Yet state’s education curriculum (Thevenot, tunities for educating on social conditions, scholars Agustin Laó-Montes (2007) and 2010). However, it remains a part of the cultural capital, and spacial geography Sawyer (2004) argue this increase in the cultural fabric of Texas and offers avenues of students. These expressions also offer Latina/o population presents an opportu- for youth to comprehend, engage, and cri- useful educational tools when covering nity to focus on corresponding marginaliza- tique the world around them. To suggest minority histories and cultures in the tion as well as linkages between Latina/o that hip hop voices should be excluded U.S. As such, offering workshops on Black and African diasporic histories. from the classroom represents a blatant and Brown musical exchanges provides a By applying an African diasporic enforcement of colonization that inhibits way to engage with the student body and reading to Mexican culture, for example, the performance of students of color in create an awareness of important cultural students can examine the importance of the education system and obfuscates the crossings in Texas amidst harsh racism Blackness within Mexico’s history (Banks, multitude of cultures and identities that and prejudice. 2006; Hernández-Cuevas, 2004; Vinson make up the state. Black and Brown youth continue to & Vaughn, 2004), as well as explore how Demonstrating the importance of hip- confront oppressive obstacles in the United Black and Latina/o historical, cultural, States. Prison rates among Blacks and and political fusions (Johnson, 2013; Latinos remain disproportionate to their Mariscal, 2005; Menchaca, 2002) can not Marco Antonio Cervantes is respective populations (Alexander 2012) only improve Black and Brown relations, an assistant professor and, like the prison rate, the Black and but make for an overall more thorough in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies Latino push out (Attrition and Dropout education for students of all colors and of the College of Education Rates in Texas, 2009) remains high as ethnicities. and Human Development “Black students and Hispanic students are Through a knowledge of the complex at the University of Texas at San Antonio, about two times more likely to leave school connections between hip-hop and earlier San Antonio, Texas. without graduating with a diploma than Black and Latina/o musical forms in Texas, MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION 8 Feature teachers of students on the margins can Decolonizing the Classroom marginalized people in the US. According better educate their classes on the contri- Reaching teachers through a Black to Leavy (2009), arts based research “dis- butions, struggles, and solidarity move- and Latina/o, African diasporic workshop rupts traditional research paradigms,” as ments of both Black and Latina/o artists provides a step towards decolonizing the artists in engage in performance pedagogy and activists. Thus, this article presents classroom and allows for a more thorough that can enhance education spaces (p. 9). a critical reflection over what transpired view of history and social studies in the During the workshop we also explored during a three-day summer teacher work- United States. In this way teachers can how musicians and artists often function shop. The analysis is anchored in Critical track obfuscated points in history that as “organic intellectuals” (Gramsci 1971) Race Theory as a method of inquiry that Michele Foucault (1969) has called the “in- and can offer lessons on migration patterns allows the researcher/educator to analyze “the further entrenchment of Eurocentric curriculum” as an example of “racial in- My attempts were to show the connections equality in education” (Ladson-Billings & between musical expression and struggles for social justice Tate, 2006, p. 2). Racial inequality within Introduction Texas schools remains a visible problem amidst histories of racism, dehumanization, and colonialism. At the end of a three-day summer and pedagogical engagement on how race, teacher workshop, I assigned K-12 teach- culture, and history connect to musical ers to write an eight-bar rap verse about expression can serve as an approach to terstitial gaps” of history or the “unheard, and movements towards social justice. This the content covered. Teachers set their address this situation. unthought, the unspoken” (p. 2). Chicana process involved outlining a historiography pens to paper and wrote diligently as the scholar Pérez (1999) has argued “these si- of African-American and Mexican-Ameri- clock ticked. By the end of the workshop, Sounds on the Margins: lences, when heard, become the negotiating can struggles for civil rights and how these five tables of teachers, predominately Theorizing Black and Latina/o spaces for decolonizing the subject” (p. 5). struggles were linked to musical expres- White, all ages, all disciplines, completed Musical Transculturation in the U.S. It is within these interstitial gaps that I sion and transcultural exchange steeped their eight-bar rap verses for perfor- locate points of Black and Brown cultural in long traditions and histories. To demonstrate the significance Important to this study is the fact mance. Even the most resistant teachers of cultural crossings in Texas and how overlap to recover histories suppressed by to hip-hop expression were engaged in colonial hegemonies in place. Listening, that approximately 97% of the teachers in cultural exchanges can inform teach- the workshop were White. This was not an the exercise. These teachers learned that ers and students in the areas of history, examining, discussing, and reflecting on the art of rapping was more than making the social history of hip hop as well as other expectation I had going into the workshop fine arts, geography, and social studies, I because the Latina/o population of San words simply rhyme and that the practice constructed a Summer 2013 teacher work- popular music forms in the U.S. can allow involves breath control, organization skills, us to the see how interaction among Afri- Antonio is roughly 63.2% (U.S. Census shop for Texas K-12 teachers through the Bureau). Though I am used to teaching rhythm, the ability to articulate your voice, Smithsonian Affiliated Institute of Texan can Americans and Mexican Americans and conveying messages that reflect social in Texas, for example, reflect larger social students of color, this was an opportu- Cultures. I separated my workshop into nity to engage in discussions with White experience and condition. four parts on three days to demonstrate processes that contribute to the design and The often underlying resistance of economics of the country. teachers about relationships among race, how cross-cultural connections between classroom poetics, and cultural expres- teachers toward hip-hop is due to a number African American and Mexican American As I conducted the workshop, I saw my of factors, including policy practices.