“Global Hip-Hop in A Connective Marginality World”

This two-day course explores the effect of hip-hop culture globally, particularly in the all-pervasive

dance genres of breaking, popping, locking, house, and the continuing variations in street cyphers and

dance studios. There are two major reasons for hip-hop culture’s proliferation throughout the world: 1)

the global centrality of American popular culture, in general, through the transnational pop culture

industry of record companies, Hollywood films, and entertainment conglomerates, and 2) the on-the-

ground connections between hip-hop heads who often experience similar marginal status in their

respective societies. These local connections I call “connective marginalities” presenting social

inequalities forming links for “underground” networks of hip-hop communities. Both of these levels---

U.S. popular culture dominance and underground connections between artist---are responsible for hip-

hop’s global circulation. The entire system is based in the youth culture’s Africanist aesthetic, an

extension of long-time Black artistic expressions. This brief course will concentrate on the connective

marginality of hip-hop’s internationalism, exploring the multidimensions of common social

marginalities in various international sites, and how they affect hip-hop dance and its representation

globally.