because I’m crazy paranoid that I’ll lose this.

I really am beginning to actually get some work done. For your G2 semester (or mine, as the case happens to be), you have to write a progress review of where you are in your studies. All told, it’s about 30 pages, so I’m getting started now. This is the first part, and is probably not very interesting to anyone but me, but if you’ve ever wondered what the hell bullshit I’m talking about when I say I’m a grad student, this is what I’m working on.

Cara Lisa Powers
Progress Review
Question 4: Overview of Final Product

The central question of my graduate studies is: “how can young people of the Hip Hop generation use media to organize for a more just and sustainable future?” In order to adequately answer this question, there are  several sub-questions that I must first answer.

• What is the Hip Hop Generation?
• What is justice?
• What constitutes sustainability?
• How can media be used as an educational and organizing tool?

Though these topics are each certainly voluminous enough to constitute their own project, it is in the holistic approach of finding their cross-section that I will be able to contribute to the current dialogue, and ultimately to the wider community. I currently am finding that there are varying ideas about the definition of the “Hip Hop Generation.” The most specific is Bakari Kitwana’s definition, which essentially defines the Hip Hop Generation as running parallel to “Generation X,” specifically the years 1964-1984. “Generation X” is white people born during those years, and the “Hip Hop Generation” is black youth born during that same time. I take issue with the concision of that argument, citing in particular Jeff Chang’s assertion that Hip Hop is “bricolage.”

While I fully acknowledge the development of Hip Hop as a means of resiliency for young black and Latino youth in the 1970s era Bronx, I truly believe that much of Hip Hop’s power as an international movement comes from it’s inherent ability to build on foundations already in existence, and to bring people together on to common ground. This is an incredibly contentious topic, understandably, especially taking into account issues of gentrification and the entry of Hip Hop into the mainstream. However, while race is still the most visible and most divisive social justice issue, the lines of black and white have a more complicated history than that, and not all “white people” are suburban and wealthy. I would further argue that since Hip Hop is not definitively a movement or genre that has come to a conclusion, that to cut off the generation at 1984 would be irresponsible. However, it is clear that those born in 1993 and those born in 1973 have a very different experience of Hip Hop culture. As such, I would argue that there are waves of Hip Hop generations. In order to fully develop my own assessment of the “Hip Hop Generation” I still have much reading to do, particularly acknowledging my own limited vantage point as both female and white, despite my urban upbringing and class. I believe that any conclusion I come to will necessitate an extensive analysis of privilege and personal ethnography.

Justice must be approached holistically, taking into account all injustices. As I begin to read more extensively about youth justice issues, specifically youth incarceration and miseducation, I know that I am consciously building my own idea of justice into a preexisting moral sensibility. As such, I am very much trying to read about many different battles for equality and focus not on the things that need to be fixed, but instead on what an ideal just society would look like, and then what would need to change in order for that to happen. Through my reading, which is still in its early stages for this topic, I need to determine what type of just future I am asking young people to build.

I am at the very beginning stages also of understanding what exactly constitutes sustainability. I know that I need to build more resources for this into my reading for my G3 semester. I see my focus on sustainability as furthering my commitment to viewing justices holistically, in that the way I currently imagine a sustainable community is one in which there are adequate resources for the members of the community, including safety and pursuit of happiness, and in which the uses of resources in the community are environmentally and socially responsible. I plan to study communities that are currently considered sustainable or that are working toward sustainability, and use those as a framework for how to apply such a sensibility to a global perspective.

Since my undergraduate degree is in media, and it is the field in which I have been working for the last two years, I feel that media is the section of my thesis question that I am most qualified to answer. However, as media is intrinsically linked to technology, there are constant changes and advances to the tools and resources that young people have available to them.  As such, this will be a constantly evolving question, and my final answer will ultimately be only a footnote.

I envision my final product as being a creative work with an integral process paper. That is, the narrative, which will explore the fields and traditions that I have identified, will be interspersed with handbook style instructions on how to answer the central question. I plan to incorporate curricula, organizing tools, media tutorials, and tips for how to work with governments and systems to implement real education for at risk youth, particularly those who have been or are in danger of being incarcerated, with the academic writing that explains the necessity for such measures. A major concern of mine in the writing of this handbook/narrative, is that it be accessible to an audience outside of traditional academia. The bricolage style of the work will take that into consideration, blending an accessible narrative style with tools to take action on the issues contained within it. The ultimate goal is to produce a call to arms and the arms with which to respond.

Ideally, this work will contribute to an already vibrant conversation in academia and activism: how can we reengage a disenfranchised youth population? I hope that by identifying tools that meet youth where they are while providing them with the information to become engaged and informed adults, they will also be more inclined to be leaders in creating a more just and sustainable future. By breaking down the overwhelming negative and often unmediated messages in popular media and providing underrepresented young people with access to their own histories, I hope to provide other youth workers, educators, and activists with a fresh approach to inciting a passion for social justice in the young people that they work with.

Draft of Works Cited:

All In The Family. Cr. Norman Lear. TV. CBS, 1971.
American Graffiti. Dir. George Lucas. DVD. Universal Pictures, 1973.
American Pie. Dir. Paul Weitz. DVD. Universal Pictures, 1999.
Beverly Hills, 90210. Cr. Aaron Spelling. TV. Fox Network, 1990.
Boston Women’s Health Book. Our Bodies Ourselves. Boston: Touchstone, 1976.
Boyz n the Hood. Dir. John Singleton. DVD. Columbia Pictures, 1991.
The Breakfast Club. Dir. John Hughes. DVD. Universal Pictures, 1985.
Class Dismissed. Prod. Alper, Loretta and Pepi Leistyna. DVD. Media Education Foundation. 2006.
Clueless. Dir. Amy Heckerling. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 1995.
Crash. Dir. Paul Haggis. DVD. Lion’s Gate, 2004.
Do the Right Thing. Dir. Spike Lee. DVD. Criterion Collection, 1989.
Drew Carey Show, The. Cr. Drew Carey. TV. ABC, 1995.
Empire Records. Dir. Allan Moyle. DVD. Warner Brother, 1995.
Friday the 13th. Dir. Sean Cunningham. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1980.
Gaines, Jane. “White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory”. Film Studies Reader. Ed. Joanne Hollows, Peter Hutchings, Mark Jancovich. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Grease. Dir. Randal Kleiser. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 1978.
Halloween. Dir. John Carpenter. DVD. Anchor Bay Entertainment, 1978.
Inside Man. Dir. Spike Lee. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2006.
Kids. Dir. Larry Clark. DVD. Lion’s Gate, 1995.
MacDonald, Dwight. “A Theory of Mass Culture”. Film Studies Reader. Ed. Joanne Hollows, Peter Hutchings, Mark Jancovich. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Mahogany. Dir. Berry Gordy. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 1975.
Mod Squad. Cr. Buddy Ruskin. TV. ABC, 1968.
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. Film Studies Reader. Ed. Joanne Hollows, Peter Hutchings, Mark Jancovich. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Nightmare on Elm Street. Dir. Wes Craven.  DVD. New Line Home Video, 1984.
Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. Cr. Larry Shaw. TV. Fox Network, 1990.
Passerini, Luisa. “Youth as a Metaphor for Change: Fascist Italy and America in the 1950s”. A History of Young People in the West. Ed. Giovanni Levi, Jean-Claude Schmitt. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Perkins, Hugh V. Human Development and Learning. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing, 1974.
Pump up the Volume. Dir. Allan Moyle. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1989.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Cr. David Collins. TV. Bravo, 2003.
Rebel Without a Cause. Dir. Nicholas Ray. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1955.
Roots. Dir. Marvin Chomsky. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1977.
Saved by the Bell. Cr. Sam Bobrick. TV. NBC, 1989.
Save the Last Dance. Dir. Thomas Carter. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2001.
Scream. Dir. Wes Craven. DVD. Miramax Film, 1996.
Shaft. Dir. Gordon Parks. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1971.
Simpsons, The. Cr. Matt Groening. TV. Fox Network, 1989.
Shary, Timothy. Generation Multiplex: the image of youth in contemporary American cinema. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
Spence, Louise, Robert Stam. “Colonialism, racism, and representation: An Introduction”. Film Studies Reader. Ed. Joanne Hollows, Peter Hutchings, Mark Jancovich. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Stacey, Jackie. “Feminine fascinations: forms of identification in star-audience relations”. Film Studies Reader. Ed. Joanne Hollows, Peter Hutchings, Mark Jancovich. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Stand and Deliver. Dir. Ramon Menendez. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1988.
Sugar and Spice. Dir. Francine McDougall. DVD. New Line Home Video, 2001.
Superfly. Dir. Gordon Parks, Jr. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1972.
Tales from the Hood. Dir. Rusty Cundieff. DVD. Savoy Pictures, 1995.
Will and Grace. Cr. David Kohan, Max Mutchnick. TV. NBC, 1998.
The Wire. Cr. Edward Burns. TV. HBO Networks, 2001.
Bronfenbrenner, Urie. The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge: The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1997.
Hopson, Derek, Darlened Powell. Raising the Rainbow Generation. New York: Fireside Publishing, 1993.
Kenniston, Kenneth. Youth and Dissent. New York: Harcourt, 1972.
Marcuse, Herbert. Counterrevolution and Revolt. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989.
McMahon, Kathleen. “Offering a Solution to the MCAS:. YOUNGmagazine. Volume 1. Edition 2. 2001.
National Endowment for the Arts. Creativity and Youth. Pamphlet. August 2002.
Powers, Cara. “Project Based Learning”. YOUNGmagazine. Volume 1. Edition 2. 2001.
Reality Bites. Dir. Ben Stiller. DVD. Universal Pictures, 1994.
Roszak, Theodore. The Making of a Counter Culture. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969.
Sontag, Susan. Against Interpretation. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1966.
Sontag, Susan. Styles of Radical Will. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1969.
The Blue Diner. Dir. Jan Egelson. DVD. First Look Entertainment, 2001.
Fishman, Joshua. Language and ethnicity in minority sociolinguistic perspective. Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters, 1989.
ATL. Dir. Chris Robinson. DVD. Warner Bros., 2006.
“Battleground Minnesota”. Dir. Gabriel Cheifetz. 5th Annual Media That Matters Festival. DVD. Arts Engine, 2006.
“Book ‘Em: Undereducated, Overincarcerated”. Prod. Youth Rights Media. 6th Annual Media That Matters Festival. DVD. Arts Engine, 2006.
Beyond Beats & Rhymes, Dir. Byron Hurt. DVD. Media Education Foundation, 2006.
Bling: Consequences & Repercussions, Dir. Kareem Edouard. DVD. WGH Films, 2004.
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. New York: Picador, 2005
Framing of an Execution, Dir. Sut Jhally. Videocasette. Media Education Foundation, 2001.
“A Girl Like Me”. Dir. Kiri Davis. 6th Annual Media That Matters Festival. DVD. Arts Engine, 2006.
“Slip of the Tongue”. Dir. Karen Lum. 6th Annual Media That Matters Festival. DVD. Arts Engine, 2006.
Wimsatt, William Upski. Bomb the Suburbs. Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press. 1994
Wimsatt, William Upski. No More Prisons. Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press, 1999
Our children are dying / Introd. by John Holt
The American juvenile justice system / Gennaro F. Vito, Deborah G. Wilson
School is dead: alternatives in education / Everett Reimer
Of poetry and poets / Richard Eberhart
Take ten : new 10-minute plays / edited by Eric Lane and Nina Shengold
Deschooling our lives / edited by Matt Hern ; foreword by Ivan Illich with Aaron Falbel
Chomsky on miseducation / Noam Chomsky ; edited and introduced by Donaldo Macedo
Field guide to educational renewal / the Vermont Restructuring Collaborative [William J. Mathis ... [et al.]
Between worlds : contemporary Asian-American plays / edited by Misha Berson
The fire this time : African-American plays for the 21st century / edited by Harry Elam Jr. and Robert Alexander
The hip hop generation : young blacks and the crisis in African American culture / Bakari Kitwana
Other people’s children : cultural conflict in the classroom / Lisa Delpit.
Read me first for a user’s guide to qualitative methods / Janice M. Morse, Lyn Richards.
Becoming qualitative researchers : an introduction / Corrine Glesne.
The Ethnographic I / Carolyn Ellis
Fly Boy in the Buttermilk / Greg Tate
A Preface to the Alien Garden / Robert Alexander
Black Noise / Tricia Rose
How to Grow a School / Chris Mercogliano
Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching / Teaching for Change
20th Century Pleasures / Robert Hass
Manifesto for Another World / Ariel Dorfman
From Black Power to Hip Hop / Patricia Hill Collins
Free Schools / Jonathan Kozol
Urban Survival / Ruth Sidel
History of Education in America / Pulliam/Van Patten
Perspectives on Learning / Phillips/Soltis
Diversity Leadership Handbook
Media/Society / Croteau/Hynes
Why We Don’t Talk to Each other Anymore / John Locke
Total Chaos / Jeff Chang
Home Girls Make Some Noise / Gwendolyn Pough
Deconstructing Tyrone / Hopkinson
Everything but the Burden / Greg Tate
The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift / Andres Edwards
The Principles of Sustainability / Simon Dresner
Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and Their Governments / Mark Roseland
Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An Anthology on Racism, Sexism, Anti-Semitism, Heterosexism, Classism, and Ableism / Adams, Blumenfeld, Castaneda, Hackman, Peters, and Zuniga
Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice / Adams, Blumenfeld, Castaneda, Hackman, Peters, and Zuniga
A Theory of Justice / John Rawls
Principles of Social Justice / David Miller
Leadership for Social Justice: Making Revolutions in Education / Marshall and Oliva

Works by: Eisa Davis, Michael Eric Dyson, Carl Hancock Rux

~ by caralisapowers on February 20, 2007.