Hip Hop Public Health

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course delves into the intersections of art, culture, and public health, particularly Hip Hop as a form of public health knowledge acquisition. Through an examination of various texts, archives, and research methods such as ethnography, autobiography, and social and oral history, students will explore how different forms of creative and cultural expression force us to reimagine what health justice looks like, feels like, and sounds like. Students will also explore how techniques from the digital humanities enable us to craft and share narratives, connecting us to the field of narrative medicine, and the ways that personal stories and lived experiences communicated through Hip Hop can shape and influence healthcare practices, policies, and our broader understanding of public health. The structure of this course is largely organized around an independent research project, where students will examine documents from a Hip Hop digital archive (or another digital archive of their choosing) and present their research at the undergraduate research symposium held in April. This project will allow students to apply theoretical concepts to real-world examples and contribute to the growing body of knowledge at the intersection of Hip Hop and public health.