Hip Hop As Liberation Theology
A 10 week interactive seminar course and discussion rooted in womanist praxis with an emphasis on hip hop as a socio-political and spirit/religion based ideology. This course uses multi-discipline learning and teaching methods to discuss the ways that (1) centering black women and other marginalized voices in all discussions is necessary (2) why hip hop should be considered a sacred text (3) what are the so called “good” and so called “bad” behaviors and truths that have been learned as a result of hip hop (4) how we might use hip hop as an essential tool to heal black people (5) how we might use hip hop as a tool to deconstruct cis patriarchal white supremacy (6) and to discuss the ethics around considering who is worthy of being preached to and centered in religious/spiritual discussions.
Your Instructor
EbonyJanice Moore is a womanist scholar and activist doing community-organizing work, most specifically around black women’s body ownership as a justice issue, and equal access to education and pay for women of color in the U.S. and in several African countries. She has created curriculum for leadership development for high school aged girls in Kenya and South Africa, developed programming for teenagers in housing projects in Decatur, Georgia giving them exposure to culture, STEM programs and the arts, and she teaches a bimonthly workshop on issues involving interrupting racism, individual civic responsibilities, and intersectional advocacy.
Her research interests include issues pertaining to blackness, woman-ness, and spirituality - most specifically black women's use of spirit, conjure, and/or the supernatural as a tool to impact social justice, and the pluralism of Black Christianity and the interconnectedness of the Southern Black Christian experience with Indigenous African religions and African Spirituality. EbonyJanice has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Political Science, and a Master of Arts in Social Change with a concentration in Spiritual Leadership, Womanist Theology, and Racial Justice. She is also a certified Body Justice Advocate and Holistic Healer.