Health Humanities Perspectives on Hip Hop

Study uses a comparative health humanities perspective on the art of hip hop, with focus on the specific themes of trauma, depression, melancholy, grief, eating disorders, and addiction. Exploration of health humanities methods and approaches that have developed in music studies in the past decade. Focus on textual and musical narratives of illness, vocal expression, and performance. Includes pedagogical strategies for hip hop as a form of therapy—an area of research with its own vast literature and history. Interpretation of music and poetry that relates to studied themes, drawing on comparative methods of literary analysis. Students learn to interpret songs from health humanities perspectives, and gain insight into how hip-hop artists shape narratives about illness through text and music. Comparison also of approaches in hip hop culture globally.

P/NP or letter grading.