|
Model Midterm2 answers 2018 Start Research Report Index: Sample Research Report Starts |
 |
Justin Murphy
The Effects of Hip-hop on the
African-American Community
When I first pitched my idea for
research to Dr. White, I imagined that I would be researching the ways in which
hip-hop music came to be and how it affects the African-American community.
However, as I got into my research my interests changed. I wanted to get to know
more about the effects of hip-hop music, and the make up of hip-hop music rather
than the history of hip-hop music. I wanted to do this because I am completely
enthralled with the idea of identity and how people use different sources to
help them form their identity. Therefore, I wanted to know if hip-hop music
could be used for identity.
When I began my research I immediately
found a great source that shows the effects of hip-hop music on the identity of
an African-American woman. The article “Killing Me Softly or on the Miseducation
of (Love and) Hip Hop: A Blackgirl Autoethnography” by Robin Boylorn is shows
how hip-hop music helped Boylorn discover herself as a feminist. The article is
an autoethnography. Autoethnography is the field that take personal narrative
(auto) and provides it with a cultural aspect to make a comment on the culture
(ethnography). By doing this, Boylorn is able to show a direct experience with
herself. Boylorn talks about how TLC was the first time she started to realize
she was feeling things associated with feminism. Her experience with hip-hop
helped her to realize herself, and subsequently give her a voice in her
decisions.
When trying to find research on the
make-up of hip-hop, I found “Authenticity within hip-hop and other cultures
threatened with assimilation” by Kembrew McLeod. In this article, McLeod
describes the authenticity of hip-hop because of the important signals, signs,
and images that are mentioned by each artist. These artists use things that mean
something to them in their songs to help them fell authenticated. The ideas that
are shown in this article lead to a suggestion that hip-hop music is a
representation of place within the world for African-Americans.
Both of these articles relate to
American Minority Literature in the sense that both discuss the idea of
garnering a voice. The whole point of the American Minority course is to show us
the literature that is within the communities of people who we might not hear
from. Minority literature gives a voice to a historically voiceless community.
Hip-hop music does something similar for the African-American community. Hip-hop
is helping African-Americans add an aspect of music to their culture. This music
showcases a representation of African-Americans in the media, something that is
not overlooked by the community. It also represents a contrast to the idea of
forced participation. Hip-hop music is voluntary participation by the
African-American community, and why is that? Because it is something that
African-Americans can get behind to help them assimilate further into their
community.
For my future research, I want to
continue to explore this conundrum. I want to explore more into how hip-hop is
made, perhaps explore on the symbols that are used by hip-hop artists. I also
would like to find more experiences of hip-hop music influencing identity
formations. If I cannot find any of these, I would like to find different
effects that hip-hop music has. I also want to show that music should be
considered a form of literature, so therefore hip-hop music should be considered
a form of American minority literature.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1999.tb02821.x
https://doi-org.libproxy.uhcl.edu/10.1177%2F1077800416667685
