Reclaiming Our Subjugated Truths—Using Hip Hop as a Form of Decolonizing Public Pedagogy: The Case of Didier Awadi

Authors

Joanna D. Da SylvaFollow

Abstract

This paper explores how Senegalese Hip Hop pioneer, Didier Awadi, uses Hip Hop as a form of decolonizing public pedagogy that renders the contributions of Pan-African leaders visible to Africa and the world, contributions that are often omitted and vilified by mainstream history. I argue that Awadi’s work provides a strategy for reclaiming oral literature, particularly storytelling, as a legitimate way of knowing, teaching and learning history. In his album Présidents d’Afrique, Didier Awadi uses rap and traditional African music to retell the story of our resistant past through an African frame of reference. The data is comprised of (1) a one-on-one interview with Didier Awadi and (2) one song of Présidents d’Afrique that best exemplifies how his storytelling narrates notions of African histories often erased in Eurocentric history. The data is analyzed using Ruth Reviere’s five Afrocentric research criteria: “ukweli (truth), ujamaa (community), kujitoa (commitment), uhaki (justice), and utulivu (harmony)” to determine whether Didier Awadi’s stories are grounded in African knowledge.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.34718/jy7v-7s64

Volume

6

Issue

2

Recommended Citation

Da Sylva, Joanna D. (2019) "Reclaiming Our Subjugated Truths—Using Hip Hop as a Form of Decolonizing Public Pedagogy: The Case of Didier Awadi," Journal of Hip Hop Studies: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, Article 10.
Available at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jhhs/vol6/iss2/10