fren%499:%special%topics maymester)2017 · ! 4! practical(information!!...
TRANSCRIPT
Global Ciphas : Hip Hop Circles around the World
LAX CDG -- The use of the term cipha in the Hip Hop vernacular is important. ... Ciphas are marvelous speech events... innovative formats for battles...informed by the physical arrangement of Hip Hop [i.e. in the form of a circle]. James Peterson, quoted in Tha Global Cipha
DESCRIPTION
In this course, we will analyze the formation of hip hop circles around the world, especially focusing on local scenes in Los Angeles and Paris. Building on the ideas of James Spady et al (2006), the “global cipha” in this course refers to the practice of gathering in a circle during moments of exchange in hip hop sessions, but it also signifies the transnational circling of hip hop culture itself around the world as well as the cosmopolitan social circles that form in and through local hip hop cultural practices. Rather than reducing hip hop to the products of the rap music industry (and the global rap stars that dominate it), this course will attend to the practices of all four elements of hip hop culture (emcee, dj/beatmaker, bboy/dancer, and graffiti writer) as they manifest on local scenes involved in global flows of people, practices, and style. Together we will learn about-‐-‐and create ourselves-‐-‐original studies of the aesthetic practices, transnational movements, and social networks of hip hop cultural exchange circulating around the world today.
The first two weeks will take place on campus in Los Angeles where we will learn the basics of hip hop history and meet with local hip hop cultural practitioners active in LA as well as on international scenes. Our readings will help us analyze classic debates in hip hop culture and show us some of the innovative ways that scholars in the humanities and social sciences approach conducting research on hip hop today.
The second two weeks will take place in Paris. Our morning sessions will focus on readings and lectures that will help us better understand hip hop culture in France. Afternoon sessions will be devoted to meeting with local hip hop practitioners and scholars, attending local hip hop events (concerts, battles, practice sessions, etc), visiting important sites for graffiti writing and street art, as well as individually conducting research in the field.
Course conducted in English. Previous experience with French is recommended but not required.
OBJECTIVES • Explore the history and the contemporary reality of hip hop cultural practices in the United States
and in France, focusing especially on the international and transnational social relations manifest in local scenes in Los Angeles and Paris.
• Examine classic debates about hip hop culture around the world, especially in the US and in France, and study some of the innovative ways in which scholars (and fans) express the complexity and the value of global hip hop culture.
• Investigate the dynamics of race, gender, class, and language that flow through the local scenes of the global cipha and compare them to the dominant discourse of and about mainstream rap music.
• Develop original scholarship in the form of a research paper that builds on existing scholarship and that incorporates on-‐location research and first-‐hand discussion with cultural practitioners.
FREN 499: Special Topics Professor Edwin Hill Maymester 2017
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READINGS
1. Wayne Booth et al, The Craft of Research. Third Edition. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008) 2. Tricia Rose, The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop. (New York:
BasicCivitas, 2008) 3. Rafael Schacter, The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti. (New Haven: Yale UP, 2013) 4. Sujatha Fernandes, Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation. (New York:
Verso, 2011) 5. Dalton Higgins, Hip Hop World: A Groundwork Guide. (Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2009) 6. H. Samy Alim, Global Linguistic Flows: Hip Hop Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of
Language. (New York: Routledge, 2009) 7. Course Reader containing book chapters and articles, many specifically on French hip hop.
a. Halifu Osumare, “Beat Streets in the Global Hood: Connective Marginalities of the Hip Hop Globe.” Journal of American & Comparative Cultures, 24 (2001): 171-‐181.
b. Loïc Wacquant, “Ghetto, Banlieue, Favela, et caetera: Tools for Rethinking Urban Marginality” and “From Conflation to Comparison: How Banlieues and Ghetto Converge and Contrast.” Urban Outcasts: A Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality. (Cambridge: Polity, 2008): pp 1-‐12; 135-‐162.
c. James Spady et al, “Cipha 5.” Tha Global Cipha: Hip Hop Culture and Consciousness. (Philadelphia: Black History Museum Press, 2006)
d. Ted Swedenberg, “Beur/Maghrebi Musical Interventions in France: Raï and Rap” The Journal of African Studies. 20.1: pp 109-‐126.
e. Véronique Helenon, “Africa on Their Mind: Rap, Blackness, and Citizenship in France.” in The Vinyl Ain’t Final : Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture. Ed. Dipannita Basu et al. (Ann Arbor: Pluto Press, 2006)
f. Charles Tshimanga, “Let the Music Play: The African Diaspora, Popular Culture, and National Identity in France.” Tshimanga et al (ed.), Frenchness and the African Diaspora. (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2009): pp 248-‐276.
ASSIGNMENTS Participation (10%)
Students will receive two participation grades: one for the two-‐week LA part of the course, and one for the Paris two-‐week session. Participation means being physically and mentally present, sharing ideas, asking questions, building off the comments of others, being an active listener, taking notes, coming to class prepared, paying attention during presentations and guest lectures, and attending special events.
Lead two group discussions of text (20%) Students will present the main problem, research questions, methods, and theses of a chapter of the
book the group is reading that day. The student should connect the reading to other texts, if possible, and offer a set of discussion questions that will help the group interrogate the main issues that the author tackles in the essay. Each presentation, worth 10% of the overall grade, should last approximately 20-‐30 minutes and include handouts for the class.
Proposal (20%) By the end of the first two weeks, students will submit a proposal for research that builds on the tools and methods learned in Booth’s text The Craft of Research and in-‐class workshops. The proposal should identify and intelligently articulate an issue or problem discussed in readings or
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meetings with guest lecturers. This problem should be developed into a series of research questions. The proposal should also put forth a specific plan for how the student plans to answer the research questions, especially how they plan to incorporate notes from the field.
Research Journal (20%) The research journal should read like a diary of scholarly activity. Whenever students attend an event, have an interesting encounter, interview someone, etc. they should take notes in this notebook, which will be therefore organized chronologically. This will help keep track of research progress and reflection while working out questions formulated in the proposal.
Research Paper (30%) The course will culminate with an original research paper that pulls from scholarship, meetings with cultural practitioners in LA and in Paris, and field notes taken from local scenes. The research can deal with any aspect of the transnational dynamics that animate the aesthetic and social circles of hip hop practices in Los Angeles and/or Paris. In addition, the research paper should build on the tools and methods learned in Booth’s text The Craft of Research as well as in in-‐class workshops. Research papers will be saved and, with student permission, shared with students studying French hip hop in the future at USC.
Figure 1. Mr Freeze and the Rock Steady Crew.
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PRACTICAL INFORMATION Please find below practical information for the Paris 2-‐week part of the course. Remember that travel prices are fluid. Consider the prices given below as approximate estimates.
Airfare Roundtrip airfare LAX-‐CDG (Charles De Gaulle Airport). Airfare should cost between $1100 to $1400.
Local Transportation Participants will want to purchase two weekly passes ($30/ea) that will allow them to travel to virtually all events. Keep in mind that Uber and taxi service can be used in Paris as needed.
Lodging Students will stay together at the Citadines Apart’Hotel in Paris. The rooms are doubles for between $120 and $160 per night, with air conditioning and access to high speed internet. They also have small kitchenettes. The most practical locations are the Citadines République in the cosmopolitan and vibrant République neighborhood, or the Citadines Austerlitz, located not far from the historic Latin Quarter. Class meetings will take place in the hotel.
Food The group will have lunch together every afternoon after our morning sessions in Paris. Lunch will normally fall in the $15-‐$20 range, tip included. The program may fix a special arrangement with a local restaurant that would serve as our designated lunch site. Students will be responsible for breakfast and dinner on their own.
Special Events We will seek out special events that showcase hip hop culture during our 2-‐week session in Paris. There will also be opportunities to attend hip hop dance courses and other types of workshops. Students should be prepared to attend four or five extra evening events, with admission prices ranging between $15 to $40.
Health and Safety All The Office of Overseas Studies in the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California urges students and parents to stay informed of conditions that may affect the health and safety of USC students abroad. Traveling and living in a foreign country always have their elements of risk. In study abroad as in other settings, students’ own decisions and behaviors can have a major impact on their own health and safety. There are many resources available to help students and parents better understand risks associated with traveling and living in foreign countries as well as precautions that can be taken. To aid students and parents in their consideration of potential health and safety risks, we have put together some information and provided links to readily accessible web sites that address issues of health and safety while abroad: https://dornsife.usc.edu/health-‐and-‐safety/.
Insurance and International SOS All USC students are required to have sufficient health and accident insurance protection during their study abroad program. Study abroad students are not allowed to waive out of USC-‐provided insurance. To ensure proper coverage, all students going abroad must enroll in either the USC Overseas Policy or the USC Student Health Insurance Plan for the time they are abroad. There is no deductible. However, these insurance policies work on a reimbursement system, which means you will generally be expected to pay for your medical care and prescriptions out of pocket and then file a claim for reimbursement. When you submit a claim, you need to attach all of your receipts for payment. If your receipts are not in US dollars, you must also submit exchange rate information. If you do not have enough money to pay for service out of pocket, you can call International SOS to request guarantee of payment to the health service provider. Both types of USC health insurance include International SOS coverage. International SOS is a company that is on call to provide worldwide assistance 24 hours a day. International SOS coverage includes referrals to physicians, dentists, psychologists, clinics, and hospitals; medical evacuation; repatriation; and a range of other services. Students should receive an International SOS card prior to studying overseas.