Disrupting neoliberalism and bridging the multiple worlds of marginalized youth via Hip Hop pedagogy: Contemplating possibilities
As a cultural phenomenon, Hip Hop is a complex and contested terrain. Historically rooted in Black and Latino youth subcultures of New York City, Hip Hop emerged as a form of sociocultural expression by which young people, particularly those socially and culturally marginalized by race and class, voice their discontent, anger, and struggles, make sense of their social realities, and exercise resistance. Many Hip Hop scholars and cultural theorists (Rose 1994; Ibrahim 1999, 2014a, 2014b; Morrell and Duncan Andrade 2002; Chang 2000; Alim and and Hi Tek 2006; Asante 2008; Petchauer 2009; Emdin 2010; Low 2010; Walcott 2003) have defined Hip Hop culture as a composite of five creative components: MCing/rapping, graffiti art, breakdancing, DJing, and knowledge. In a White, male, and middle class dominated society in which the racialized poor are constructed as other, Hip Hop is a means by which many young people contest negative stereotypes and construct for themselves an affirming identity of their own choosing (Bottrell 2007) Progressive Hip Hop, argue Ginwright and Cammarota (2002) has become a cultural vehicle for elevating social awareness, political mobilization, and informing and facilitating social action at the community level. Along with its capacity for strengthening marginalized communities, constructing affirming social identities, and inspiring activism, Hip Hop has also come to be known for its less edifying elements. With the appropriation and commercialization of Hip Hop by mainstream (largely Whiteowned and run) corporations beginning in the late 1980s, Hip Hop became increasingly hypermasculine, sexualized, criminally oriented, and therefore viewed by many as "antithetical to the positive, personal and academic growth and development of urban youth" (Bridges 2011, 325) Our focus in this article, however, is on progressive forms of Hip Hop and why these strands of the genre might be useful in urban classrooms for connecting students' multiple worlds, cultivating the cultural wealth that they bring to school, and promoting student engagement. Academic disparities based on race and class continue to pervade Canadian schools, and much critical scholarly effort has been devoted to trying to