Announcements

FROM: Department of Humanities RE: Dr. Cornel West Headlines CalU Hip-hop Conference April 13th,15th
Sent:
4/1/2021 9:44:02 AM
To: Students, Faculty, Staff

Groundbreaking author and professor Dr. Cornel West will join author and cultural critic Jeff Chang as the featured speakers at Cal U’s 15th Hip-hop Conference, which will be held virtually April 13 and April 15. 

West and Chang will present “Hip-hop, Social Justice, Politics and the Pandemic” at 6 p.m. April 13. Visit https://calu.zoom.us/j/93794858647 to join the webinar, which will be moderated by Dr. Ayanna Walker, associate professor and director of Cal U’s Frederick Douglass Institute. 

At 6 p.m. April 15, a panel of experts will consider “What’s Next for Hip-hop — Artistically and Academically?” 

Presenters will be MyFavoriteColor, a national recording artist who attended Cal U; Bryon Turman, professor of hip-hop studies at North Carolina A&T; Dr. Jessica Spradley, a sociology instructor at Cal U; and Dr. Wil Boone, professor of Black studies at Winston-Salem State University. 

Visit https://calu.zoom.us/j/94138717578 to join the webinar, moderated by Dr. Kelton Edmonds, professor, director of African American Studies at Cal U, and creator of the Hip-hop Conference. 

“The annual conference allows speakers and audiences to evaluate the evolving artistry and multi-layered impact of hip-hop, which was born in the Bronx and rapidly emerged into a global phenomenon,” Edmonds said.  

“Through the lens of hip-hop we are able to engage on a number of significant issues surrounding culture, economics, politics and social justice.  Accordingly, this year’s conference will specially examine hip-hop’s ability to encourage racial discourse, its emergence in university curricula, its trajectory into the 2020s, and its impact on the recent national elections.” 

For more about the conference, please visit https://www.calu.edu/news/2021/hip-hop-conference.aspx

For more information, please email Dr. Kelton Edmonds at edmonds_k@calu.edu