Notes from the (Under)GroundNotes from the (Under)GroundNotes from the (Under)GroundNotes from the (Under)Ground

Cultural Studies Methodology, Sociality and the Praxis of Project Citizen

by Awad Ibrahim, ProfessorUniversity of Ottawa

aibrahim@uottawa.caMarch 24, 2011

March 24, 2011

Cultural Studies Methodology, Sociality and the Praxis of Project Citizen

by Awad Ibrahim, ProfessorUniversity of Ottawa

aibrahim@uottawa.caMarch 24, 2011

March 24, 2011

Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor DostoevskyFyodor DostoevskyFyodor Dostoevsky

You Russian People?You Russian People? You Russian People?You Russian People?

Stuart Hall: Radical ConjuncturalistStuart Hall: Radical Conjuncturalist

Accept your own voice!

http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2010/11/28/stuart-hall-in-conversation-with-les-back-audio/

Accept your own voice!

http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2010/11/28/stuart-hall-in-conversation-with-les-back-audio/

Why do we write?Why do we write? almost everything I write is a kina political intervention. It

may not be about politics explicitly, but it is trying to shift the terms of the debate, intervene on one side or the other, clarify something, wipe some other distorting views out of place so that something else can come through… I am aware that it is a kina of political intervention.

almost everything I write is a kina political intervention. It may not be about politics explicitly, but it is trying to shift the terms of the debate, intervene on one side or the other, clarify something, wipe some other distorting views out of place so that something else can come through… I am aware that it is a kina of political intervention.

… and I realized… and I realized

* am interested in the conjuncture* am interested in the conjuncture* you need theory not to produce more theory, but because you

can’t do without it * Marxism without guarantees = social justice without

guarantees* you need more level of determination before you produce the

concrete in thought* I think conjuncturally … am a radical conjuncturalist

* am interested in the conjuncture* am interested in the conjuncture* you need theory not to produce more theory, but because you

can’t do without it * Marxism without guarantees = social justice without

guarantees* you need more level of determination before you produce the

concrete in thought* I think conjuncturally … am a radical conjuncturalist

Introducing the BanalIntroducing the Banal

(Not) What is Cultural Studies?

but

What does cultural studies do in education?

(Not) What is Cultural Studies?

but

What does cultural studies do in education?

Run for your life!Run for your life!

The Underground People are ComingThe Underground People are Coming

No one lives beyond 40 yearsNo one lives beyond 40 years

Because “[t]o live longer than forty years is bad manners, is vulgar, immoral. Who does live beyond forty? Answer that, sincerely and honestly I will tell you who do: fools and worthless fellows.”

Ouch! Clearly, for me. no one is worthless, but some are worth-

less.

Because “[t]o live longer than forty years is bad manners, is vulgar, immoral. Who does live beyond forty? Answer that, sincerely and honestly I will tell you who do: fools and worthless fellows.”

Ouch! Clearly, for me. no one is worthless, but some are worth-

less.

What is Project Citizen?What is Project Citizen?

[We need] to make each one of our schools an embryonic community life, active with types of occupations that reflect the life of the larger society and permeated throughout with the spirit of art, history, and science. When the school introduces and trains each child of society into membership within such a little community, saturating him [sic] with the spirit of service, and providing him [sic] with the instruments of effective self direction, we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious (Dewey, 1902, p. 29).

[We need] to make each one of our schools an embryonic community life, active with types of occupations that reflect the life of the larger society and permeated throughout with the spirit of art, history, and science. When the school introduces and trains each child of society into membership within such a little community, saturating him [sic] with the spirit of service, and providing him [sic] with the instruments of effective self direction, we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious (Dewey, 1902, p. 29).

As praxis, Wright sees cultural studies as: As praxis, Wright sees cultural studies as:

1. … a way of studying formerly neglected subjects (for example, representing working class people's perspectives in historical accounts).

2. … a means of taking seriously what has been traditionally neglected in the academy as "unserious" or unworthy of serious study (e.g., popular culture forms such as pop music, concerts, and hiphop culture, movies and videos, television and the televisual, sport, advertising, shopping malls, shopping and the culture of consumption).

3. … a way of bringing out and taking seriously the perspectives 3. … a way of bringing out and taking seriously the perspectives of previously marginalized groups in society (e.g., doing history of previously marginalized groups in society (e.g., doing history from women's perspectives -"herstories," representing hip-hop from women's perspectives -"herstories," representing hip-hop as important contemporary culture).as important contemporary culture).

1. … a way of studying formerly neglected subjects (for example, representing working class people's perspectives in historical accounts).

2. … a means of taking seriously what has been traditionally neglected in the academy as "unserious" or unworthy of serious study (e.g., popular culture forms such as pop music, concerts, and hiphop culture, movies and videos, television and the televisual, sport, advertising, shopping malls, shopping and the culture of consumption).

3. … a way of bringing out and taking seriously the perspectives 3. … a way of bringing out and taking seriously the perspectives of previously marginalized groups in society (e.g., doing history of previously marginalized groups in society (e.g., doing history from women's perspectives -"herstories," representing hip-hop from women's perspectives -"herstories," representing hip-hop as important contemporary culture).as important contemporary culture).

ContinueContinueContinueContinue4. … the ethnographic study and performance of culture (e.g.,

participant observation at a rave), participation in one's culture (e.g., playing and teaching baseball).

5. … a way of taking up projects that will address issues of social justice and radical democracy (e.g., discrimination based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation).

6. … a way of dealing with culture in the so called postmodern age (e.g., after the end of the "grand narratives").

7. … the utilization of critical theory in undertaking a sociopolitical project for social justice ends.

8. … intellectual/political activism heavily informed by theory.

4. … the ethnographic study and performance of culture (e.g., participant observation at a rave), participation in one's culture (e.g., playing and teaching baseball).

5. … a way of taking up projects that will address issues of social justice and radical democracy (e.g., discrimination based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation).

6. … a way of dealing with culture in the so called postmodern age (e.g., after the end of the "grand narratives").

7. … the utilization of critical theory in undertaking a sociopolitical project for social justice ends.

8. … intellectual/political activism heavily informed by theory.

Project CitizenProject Citizen

** Naming an issue or a problem that students need and want to address. This is a democratic process that is guided by the students with the teacher’s help;

** Researching their topic, where students are introduced into what research is, its functionality, deployability, and different facets (students as researchers);

** Gathering and presenting the collected data (students as public speakers and research presenters who make policy proposals);

** Proposing alternative policy** Implementing of alternative policy** Reflecting on the learning experience

** Naming an issue or a problem that students need and want to address. This is a democratic process that is guided by the students with the teacher’s help;

** Researching their topic, where students are introduced into what research is, its functionality, deployability, and different facets (students as researchers);

** Gathering and presenting the collected data (students as public speakers and research presenters who make policy proposals);

** Proposing alternative policy** Implementing of alternative policy** Reflecting on the learning experience

Using (Old, Torn) T-shirts: Using (Old, Torn) T-shirts:

Ukraine and the Politics of New Public SpeechUkraine and the Politics of New Public Speech

LvivLvivLvivLviv

No underwear please!No underwear please!

The Politics of T-Shirts in UkraineThe Politics of T-Shirts in Ukraine

Project CitizenProject Citizen

The Big PictureThe Big Picture

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Mayakovsky To both the sky, In smoke oblivious it was blue, And the clouds resembling ragged refugees, I shall bring the dawn of my ultimate love, Bright as a consumptive’s flush.  With rejoicing I shall blanket the roar Of the assemblage, Oblivious of comfort and home. Men, Listen to me!

To both the sky, In smoke oblivious it was blue, And the clouds resembling ragged refugees, I shall bring the dawn of my ultimate love, Bright as a consumptive’s flush.  With rejoicing I shall blanket the roar Of the assemblage, Oblivious of comfort and home. Men, Listen to me!

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Mayakovsky

This day let me embrace new feet!...Perhaps, outliving these timesAs harrowing as bayonets’ steel,In centuries with whitened beardsWe alone shall remain:You And I,Chasing after you from city to city

This day let me embrace new feet!...Perhaps, outliving these timesAs harrowing as bayonets’ steel,In centuries with whitened beardsWe alone shall remain:You And I,Chasing after you from city to city

MohammediaMohammedia

Khalil GibranKhalil Gibran

Love’s procession is moving;Beauty is waving her banner;Youth is sounding the trumpet of joy;Disturb not my contrition, my blamer.Let me walk, for the path is richWith roses and mint, and the airIs scented with cleanliness.

Love’s procession is moving;Beauty is waving her banner;Youth is sounding the trumpet of joy;Disturb not my contrition, my blamer.Let me walk, for the path is richWith roses and mint, and the airIs scented with cleanliness.

SenegalSenegal

Project CitizenProject Citizen

Baba Mall Chante TaraBaba Mall Chante Tara

*** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h84TA9LVh80

*** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYL8VC69VNI

*** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h84TA9LVh80

*** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYL8VC69VNI

Au nom de la poésie africaineAu nom de la poésie africaine

Peuples du continent noirHommes du Sahel et de la forêtHommes de la savane et du grand désertAfricain, mon frère, (voilà ?) est mon sangEcoute ta musiqueElle est_ la voix de nos dieux et celle de tes ancêtresDans le soir, beaucoup de (nos veillées ?)Nous griots, après un moment de profond recueillement, jouent (sic) sur la guitare l'air d'un "Tara"

Peuples du continent noirHommes du Sahel et de la forêtHommes de la savane et du grand désertAfricain, mon frère, (voilà ?) est mon sangEcoute ta musiqueElle est_ la voix de nos dieux et celle de tes ancêtresDans le soir, beaucoup de (nos veillées ?)Nous griots, après un moment de profond recueillement, jouent (sic) sur la guitare l'air d'un "Tara"

Taking Cultural Studies Praxis to a Whole Nother Level Taking Cultural Studies Praxis to a Whole Nother Level

A Pedagogy of Real Talk: Critical Hip-Hop Language Pedagogies

Educacao como pratica da liberdade

A Pedagogy of Real Talk: Critical Hip-Hop Language Pedagogies

Educacao como pratica da liberdade

The Real Talk ProjectThe Real Talk ProjectThe Real Talk ProjectThe Real Talk Project

The Real Talk project begins with the sociolinguistic analysis of a conversation with one of the Bay Area ’s most well-

known street hip-hop artists, JT, the Bigga Figga. The class exercise begins by listening to an audiotaped interview,

and copies of the tape are then distributed to the students, each of whom has his or her own tape recorder. The

students are instructed to transcribe the first small portion of the tape exactly as they hear it. What we then

discover as a class is that we have each produced a unique transcript of the same speech sample. Invariably, some

students will “standardize” the speech samples, and others will “vernacularize” them. As we search for differences

between our transcriptions, students begin to notice sociolinguistic patterns in the rapper ’s speech (e.g., “In the first

sentence he said, ‘He run everything,’ and then later he said, ‘He runs everything.’”). We take this one feature (third-

person singular—s variability) of the rapper’s spoken speech and conduct a sociolinguistic analysis of his speech,

which leads to a larger understanding of the structure and systematicity of spoken speech. Students are not only

learning about the sociolinguistic variation of spoken language, they are also being introduced to a curriculum that

introduces it as a viable modality for learning.

The Real Talk project begins with the sociolinguistic analysis of a conversation with one of the Bay Area ’s most well-

known street hip-hop artists, JT, the Bigga Figga. The class exercise begins by listening to an audiotaped interview,

and copies of the tape are then distributed to the students, each of whom has his or her own tape recorder. The

students are instructed to transcribe the first small portion of the tape exactly as they hear it. What we then

discover as a class is that we have each produced a unique transcript of the same speech sample. Invariably, some

students will “standardize” the speech samples, and others will “vernacularize” them. As we search for differences

between our transcriptions, students begin to notice sociolinguistic patterns in the rapper ’s speech (e.g., “In the first

sentence he said, ‘He run everything,’ and then later he said, ‘He runs everything.’”). We take this one feature (third-

person singular—s variability) of the rapper’s spoken speech and conduct a sociolinguistic analysis of his speech,

which leads to a larger understanding of the structure and systematicity of spoken speech. Students are not only

learning about the sociolinguistic variation of spoken language, they are also being introduced to a curriculum that

introduces it as a viable modality for learning.

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi Tsunesaburo Makiguchi

Ideas genuinely useful for education… do not originate with those in central authority issuing orders. They arise rather among free spirits at the far margins of power, the eccentric thinkers, cut loose from their moorings but at the same time constantly digging deep in search of a vein of universal knowledge. It is when such thinkers first determine to educate themselves and then decide to be of some use to others and to society, that truly valid theories emerge (p. 13).

Ideas genuinely useful for education… do not originate with those in central authority issuing orders. They arise rather among free spirits at the far margins of power, the eccentric thinkers, cut loose from their moorings but at the same time constantly digging deep in search of a vein of universal knowledge. It is when such thinkers first determine to educate themselves and then decide to be of some use to others and to society, that truly valid theories emerge (p. 13).