Unit 1. Thinking Sociologically about Hip Hop
Week 1
1/28: Course Introduction
- No Readings
1/30: What is Hip Hop?
Week 2
2/4-2/6: Thinking Sociologically
- The Conservative War on Hip Hop
- Gould & Lewis – The Sociological Imagination (password-protected)
- In Class Film: Fear of A Black Hat
Week 3
2/11-2/13: Researching Hip Hop: Breaking down Billboard
- How The Hot 100 Became America’s Hit Barometer
- Lewis- Theory & Methods (password-protected)
Week 4
2/18-2/20: Hip Hop: The Culture
- Johnson – Culture, Symbols, Ideas and the Stuff of Life (password-protected)
- Berlinger- How Hip-Hop Fashion Went from the Streets to High Fashion (password-protected)
Week 5
2/25-2/27: Hip Hop: The Organizational Field
- The Year That Changed Hip Hop Forever
- Negus – The Business of Rap (password-protected)
Week 6
3/3-3/5: Hip-Hop: The Institution
- Johnson – The Structures of Social Life (password-protected)
- Braine – Social Institutions (password-protected)
Unit 2. Capitalizing on Hip-Hop Culture
Week 7
3/10-3/12: Capitalism & Commodification
- Watkins – Black Youth & the Ironies of Capitalism (password-protected)
- Marx – Fetishism of Commodities (password-protected)
- Read pages 1-4 stopping before paragraph on Robinson Crusoe
Week 8
3/17-3/19: Commercialization
- Blair – Commercialization of the Rap Music Youth Subculture (password-protected)
Week 9
3/24-3/26: Authenticity & Identity
- Samuels- The Rap on Rap: The Black Music That Isn’t Either (password-protected)
- Broadcasting Badness: Violence, Identity, and Performance in the Online Gang Rap Scene (password-protected)
- Assignment: Slack Check #1- 3/27
Unit 3. Power in Representation: Identity, Space, Place
Week 10
3/31-4/2: Spatialization
- Cottom- Reading Hick Hop (password-protected)
- Trap Music in Atlanta
Week 11-12
SPRING BREAK (4/7-4/16)
Week 13
4/21-4/23: The Politics of Identity
- Fink – Negotiating Authenticity & Ethnicity in Tokyo’s Club Harlem (password-protected)
- Perullo – Hooligans and Heroes: Youth Identity & Hip-Hop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (password-protected)
- Assignment: Slack Check#2- 4/24
Week 14
11/18-11/20: Gender & Sexuality
- “Trappin’ Ain’t Shit to Me”: How Undergraduate Students Construct Meaning Around Race, Gender, and Sexuality within Hip-Hop (password-protected)
- Morgan- Hip Hop Feminist (password-protected)
Week 15
5/5-5/7:
Week 16
5/12-5/14: In Class Exam Review
FINAL EXAM (5/19)