Knowledge -the fifth element of hip hop music: Mexican and Puerto Rican youth engagement of hip hop as critically rac(ed) education discourse

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the interrelationships among Mexican and Puerto Rican youth in Chicago, schooling, and hip hop music as critical pedagogy. Using Critical Race and Latino Critical Race theories, the author conducted a multi-methodological qualitative study with twenty Mexican and Puerto Rican youth in Chicago analyzing student's narratives about the influence of race, ethnicity, and culture in their everyday lives; power relations at work in their communities; and their assessment of schooling by utilizing hip hop music and culture. This work provides an alternative perspective to much of the recent literature on urban schooling framed by a discourse surrounding testing, standardization of curriculum, and accountability by focusing on developing an understanding of how youths' multi-layered identities converge and diverge with the processes of schooling in ways that impact academic achievement. Selecting to use a qualitative research methodology, this research captures fine distinctions that augment statistical analyses surrounding the schooling experiences of Latino youth underscoring the racial/ethnic and cultural variables that influence how students of color experience schooling. Findings from this dissertation suggest educational researchers, policy makers, and educators would benefit from understanding how race/ethnicity and culture operate for youth of color because they have bearing on how students experience and respond to their education.