ABSTRACT

This chapter considers the potential of music as a way to reposition inquiry into the 'real world' of geographic experience, using an approach called Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy (CHHP) as an illustrative example. It provides a novel methodological approach to the use of hip hop in the inquiry of geographic experiences of health and place. The chapter shows hip hop and related forms of subaltern musical genres offer a potentially powerful medium to be taken up, not only as research methods, but also a means for health messaging, political engagement, and social action. Several generations of youth have used hip hop to express their personal identity and group belonging. In educational research, scholars have documented the utility of hip hop to remarkable effect as a pedagogical aid to foster critical thinking and academic media literacy in school curriculum. In Canada, hip hop is flourishing among Aboriginal youth as a form of entertainment, cultural expression, protest, and political engagement.