All Posts Tagged With: "Rap Poetics"
In a class of their own
Adventure Studies, Space Engineering, Costume Studies!?
UBC Wood Processing students putting together the podia used at the 2010 Olympic ceremonies
From the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings—on newsstands now. Story by Alex Ballingall.
Parents have a tendency to dream on behalf of their children. Sometimes they envision their daughters and sons climbing the hallowed staircases of ivory tower institutions. Sometimes they’re graduating from law school, leaping headlong into medical school, or simply training to take over the family business. There’s no doubt such dreams have merit, but they don’t always mesh with what kids want. Canadian universities offer a staggering array of enticing programs in which students can pursue their own destinies and determine their own dreams. Here are a few standouts:
Hip-Hop courses proliferate
Students explore Jay-Z, Rap Poetics, Religion and Hip Hop
Religion and Hip Hop by Erik Quinn on Facebook
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. has launched a new course centred on the works of rapper Jay-Z, reports The Nation.
It’s getting a lot of attention, but it’s certainly not the first time that a prestigious university has used hip-hop to help students explore big questions.
Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay-Z has units on “Hustling Hermeneutics” and the “Monster of the Double Entendre.” The course is popular so far, with 140 signed up—about three-times the normal enrollment for a Georgetown seminar.
“Many are white kids—they bring a level of criticism about the culture they have emerged from… because they’ve seen that culture through Jay-Z’s eyes,” course instructor Michael Eric Dyson told The Nation, explaining the course’s popularity among a student body that’s only 6.7 per cent African-American.
