After exploring
ways to enhance academic course offerings by including courses that focus on Hip-Hop,
Howard University recently unveiled three new Hip-Hop related courses in the spring
semester of 2007. The
upcoming classes are geared toward engaging undergraduate students in a critical
analysis of Hip-Hop using research, policy, and program review, as well as including
activist perspectives.Undergrad
students will be able to enroll in “Hip-Hop and the African-American Experience”
in the spring and next fall, the university plans to offer another new Hip-Hop
course titled “Black Youth and Hip-Hop” to students."Hopefully
the success of the courses will motivate other departments at the university to
develop new and innovative courses that study Hip-Hop from a historical, cultural,
and contemporary perspective," said Joshua Kondwani Wright, a doctoral student
in Howard’s Department of History.In
addition to the undergraduate students, Howard plans to offer a graduate class
to students called “Hip-Hop History.” The
seminar will include AJ Calloway, the original host of BET’s 106 & Park, as
a frequent guest lecturer.Early
this spring, Howard played host to a "Hip-Hop and Higher Education Symposium"
that focused on creating Hip-Hop related courses at Howard University. The
courses were designed to serve as a model for other Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs) in hopes that they will eventually incorporate them into
their curriculums.
