“Show and Prove: The Tensions, Contradictions, and Possibilities of Hip Hop Scholarship in Practice”: New Work in Hip Hop Studies

“Show and Prove: The Tensions, Contradictions, and Possibilities of Hip Hop Scholarship in Practice”: A Symposium Featuring New Work in Hip Hop Studies

Call for Proposals Due May 21, 2010
Please submit a 200 word abstract and relevant contact information to ikj200@nyu.edu

New York University
Performance Studies Department
721 Broadway, 6th Fl. New York, NY
September 18-19, 2010

In Hip Hop performance communities, the “show and prove” attitude privileges action over words or the demonstration of skills over merely talking about them. “Show and prove” can also be an indirect critique of academics whose roles, in the simplest of terms, are to write on the actions of others. But with a growing number of practitioner-scholars and generations of those raised on Hip Hop taking classes, writing, and publishing work on the culture, today’s Hip Hop scholars feel as accountable to the academy as they feel to their own Hip Hop communities, seeking to give back in meaningful ways through their work. From negotiating the academy alongside varied Hip Hop audiences, these scholars must show and prove themselves in ways that may be conflicting or contradictory. At the same time, they struggle against the trappings of academic institutions that have historically objectified and even exploited such communities rather than recognizing them as active subjects in co
llaborative projects.

This symposium centers recent or unpublished work on Hip Hop by this new generation of scholars. It will be a forum for students of Hip Hop—whether in the classroom, the studio, the stage, or the streets—to exchange ideas, share their research, and ultimately contribute to an ever expanding body of work on Hip Hop. As a result, the symposium will showcase the current direction of the still-forming field of Hip Hop Studies. A select number of accepted papers will be included in a half-day, small group workshop on Sunday, September 19. This workshop will be an opportunity for presenters to get direct feedback on specific aspects of their projects from an invited scholar in the field.

Key Words:
Aesthetics of dance and visual art
Theory from cultural practice
Methodologies/ “Hiphopography”
Dance/ visual art/ theater/ music and education
Hip Hop as pedagogy
The complexities of commodification
Commercialization, Media, and Globalization
Hip Hop and community impact/activism
Is it Hip Hop?—e.g. graffiti art, “street jazz”, jerking, etc.
Racial and gender constructions/tensions
Gender and sexual identities in Hip Hop
Hip Hop and political possibilities
Shifting commitments of Hip Hop scholarship over time

Imani Kai Johnson, Ph.D.
Academic Diversity Post-Doctoral Fellow
Department of Performance Studies
Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
O: 212.992.8418
E: ikj200@nyu.eduNew York University
Performance Studies Department
721 Broadway, 6th Fl. New York, NY
September 18-19, 2010

In Hip Hop performance communities, the “show and prove” attitude privileges action over words or the demonstration of skills over merely talking about them. “Show and prove” can also be an indirect critique of academics whose roles, in the simplest of terms, are to write on the actions of others. But with a growing number of practitioner-scholars and generations of those raised on Hip Hop taking classes, writing, and publishing work on the culture, today’s Hip Hop scholars feel as accountable to the academy as they feel to their own Hip Hop communities, seeking to give back in meaningful ways through their work. From negotiating the academy alongside varied Hip Hop audiences, these scholars must show and prove themselves in ways that may be conflicting or contradictory. At the same time, they struggle against the trappings of academic institutions that have historically objectified and even exploited such communities rather than recognizing them as active subjects in co
llaborative projects.

This symposium centers recent or unpublished work on Hip Hop by this new generation of scholars. It will be a forum for students of Hip Hop—whether in the classroom, the studio, the stage, or the streets—to exchange ideas, share their research, and ultimately contribute to an ever expanding body of work on Hip Hop. As a result, the symposium will showcase the current direction of the still-forming field of Hip Hop Studies. A select number of accepted papers will be included in a half-day, small group workshop on Sunday, September 19. This workshop will be an opportunity for presenters to get direct feedback on specific aspects of their projects from an invited scholar in the field.

Key Words:
Aesthetics of dance and visual art
Theory from cultural practice
Methodologies/ “Hiphopography”
Dance/ visual art/ theater/ music and education
Hip Hop as pedagogy
The complexities of commodification
Commercialization, Media, and Globalization
Hip Hop and community impact/activism
Is it Hip Hop?—e.g. graffiti art, “street jazz”, jerking, etc.
Racial and gender constructions/tensions
Gender and sexual identities in Hip Hop
Hip Hop and political possibilities
Shifting commitments of Hip Hop scholarship over time

Imani Kai Johnson, Ph.D.
Academic Diversity Post-Doctoral Fellow
Department of Performance Studies
Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
O: 212.992.8418
E: ikj200@nyu.edu

Where You Been?

(The only graphic of an injured shoulder
I could find that did not involve a muscular, shirtless dude. )

A'ight. I'm back. I generally don't write about personal stuff here (with the notable exception of my damn dog) but maybe I should have given you a heads up that I was moving in March. As a result there's been much less original content lately than some of you are used to from me. So many blogs just fade away and I didn't mean to give you the impression that I'm going to just wander off and leave VS the POMEGRANATE hanging: I am not going anywhere. It took me all month long and I jacked up my shoulder pretty bad in the process. Right now I smell like a giant candy cane because I am coated in a light frosting of IcyHot. It's funny, I never think about my shoulders, they are just there filling out the corners of my suit. But it turns out you need your shoulder to do like, everything. Who knew? I seem to be healing and I look forward to putting on a shirt without grimacing some time soon.

In any case my move is done.

Moving is very strange. Physically it was grueling, but in many ways it was more difficult emotionally. I lived in that place for almost nine years. I could walk though it in the dark and not bump into anything. Over the years I repainted it twice, laid new tile floors in the kitchen and bathroom and replaced all the doorknobs, switch-plates and outlets. But I just couldn't afford it anymore. Most of the stuff I read about the economy is theoretical... but this is my day-to-day reality: I have two advanced degrees from a prestigious university, I've presented my work internationally, had significant publications, taught almost a dozen University classes and I have had some tangible successes as an artist and I still can't find a job.

I don't know what else to say about that.

More soon.

The Centrality of Jerusalem by Yousef Munayyer

"The Centrality of Jerusalem" by Yousef Munayyer

Friday, April 2, 2010

Palestine Center Brief No. 194 (2 April 2010)

By Yousef Munayyer

If international law matters to any American president, it ought to be President Obama who has taught constitutional law.

Israel's supporters are wrong to downplay the significance of illegal settlement activity as innocuous building in "Jewish neighborhoods" of Jerusalem. Contrary to Prime Minister Netanyahu's claim that "building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv," according to international law and longstanding U.S. policy, building in East Jerusalem is the same as building in Jenin - or any other city in the occupied West Bank.

Despite all its remonstrating, Israel stands isolated from the entire international community over occupied East Jerusalem. Israel has no legitimate sovereignty on any inch of land beyond the Green Line, regardless of what they call it. As one European foreign minister recently stated: "I think I can say very clearly that Jerusalem is not Tel Aviv." Legally speaking, this rebuke to Netanyahu's bluster is correct, and the U.S. knows it.

Those who watch this conflict closely know that Israeli settlement expansion in Jerusalem has the potential to destroy the two-state solution and precipitate a third intifada. It is no minor matter. Nor was the timing of the announcements of 1600 new Jewish homes in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo during the visit of Vice President Biden, or of 20 more units for a site owned by an American funder of Netanyahu just hours before the prime minister was to meet with Obama.

Netanyahu rejected U.S. calls to halt settlement expansion and his Interior Minister, Eli Yishai -- the same man who started the fracas when Biden visited -- also seems determined to continue flouting the Obama administration.

Undeterred, unrepentant, and still in his job, Yishai declared more than two weeks after the initial incident: "I thank God I have been given the opportunity to be the minister who approves the construction of thousands of housing units in Jerusalem."

And when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced the concern of the Obama administration, MK Danny Danon of Netanyahu's Likud party said her "meddling in internal Israeli decisions regarding the development of our capital, Jerusalem, is uninvited and unhelpful." American organizations such as AIPAC and the ADL then urged the Obama administration to hush while expressing no public dismay at Danon's tongue-lashing of the American secretary of state.

Could you imagine what would happen today if the United States annexed Mexico down to Mexico City, claimed it as part of Texas, then began building US cities there and preventing Mexicans from entering?

Obviously, the rest of the world would not accept the annexation of land through conquest for the United States or any state -- even Israel.

But Jerusalem is not only a flash point because of Israel's ongoing colonization through settlement expansion; this transcends the territorial dimension. Jerusalem is a symbolic city dear to Muslims, Christians and Jews. And as the economic and cultural center of Palestinian life for centuries, it is the only city that could be the capital of a Palestinian state. Likewise, no viable Palestinian state could emerge without East Jerusalem as its capital.

That's why other Israeli provocations in Jerusalem are equally damaging to the diplomatic process and stability in the region. The ongoing de-Arabization of Jerusalem which has accelerated in recent years, demands the immediate attention of all those interested in a just solution to this conflict. From eviction and demolition of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, to the revocation of residencies and a complex matrix of walls and checkpoints, Israeli policies are slowly sapping Jerusalem of its Palestinian population.

In the Arab and Muslim world, this process playing out daily on the television screens of onlookers is interpreted as nothing short of a colonialist enterprise. (To see a video that explains Israel’s increasing grip on Jerusalem click here for a flash version and here for a YouTube version.)

While some Israeli spokespersons may claim that there is no need to fuss over building a few houses, the reality is that the Palestinians and others in the Middle East have been watching an ongoing and alarming trend in Jerusalem for decades. Major settlements like Har Homa, Gilo, Ramat Shlomo, Ma'ale Addumim and others, which were developed under the Israeli guise of building in Jerusalem "just like Tel Aviv," have created insurmountable obstacles to sharing Jerusalem between both peoples. The policies of removing or forcing out Palestinians from Jerusalem reinforce the notion that Israel has no intention of returning the land it occupies.

Without Jerusalem on the table, Palestinians not only lack incentive to negotiate, they lack any incentive to maintain the two-state framework.

Jerusalem tumult has the potential to send shockwaves through the Middle East and the broader Muslim world where the United States has far more important interests than the troublemaking state of Israel.

Yousef Munayyer is Executive Director of the Palestine Center. This policy brief may be used without permission but with proper attribution to the Center.