Rise of the Digital Underground: Curriculum design, instruction, and critical hip-hop implications for distance learning

The alternative hip-hop group, Digital Underground, ruled Bay Area airwaves in the early 1990s. Their daring production, lyricism, and fusion of rap and funk was largely responsible for instituting a new sound, propelling the genre forward, and launching the career of hip-hop icon, Tupac Shakur. Their contributions to hip-hop serve as a metaphor for modern conceptualizations of higher education that, in response to COVID-19 precautions, require faculty and staff to reimagine – or remix – learning and teaching for the 21st Century. This session will highlight the ways in which critical hip-hop pedagogy challenges faculty to intentionally incorporate distance learning experiences within their courses.

Presenter Information

Donovan Livingston

Donovan Livingston is an award-winning educator, spoken word poet, and public speaker. In 2016, his Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation address “Lift Off” went viral, reaching over thirteen million views and prompting Hillary Clinton to praise, “It’s young graduates like [Livingston] who make it clear that America’s best days are still ahead.” Since his pivotal speech, Livingston has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC, Good Morning America, and in news outlets across Europe, Australia, India, and South Africa. His convocation address was published as a book by Spiegel & Grau in 2017. A believer in the enormous opportunities that education provides, Livingston inspires students, educators, and communities with his conviction that every child has the right to “lift off” and achieve their dreams. Drawing on personal experiences as well as scholarship, Livingston examines the role of hip hop and spoken word poetry in student experiences in higher and postsecondary education. An impassioned and dynamic speaker, he incorporates creative elements into his lectures such as spoken word poetry and audience collaboration. Livingston has earned master’s degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University, and recently completed his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his wife Lauren and daughter Joy.