Revolutionizing Environmental Education through Indigenous Hip Hop Culture

Lakehead University and Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication. Lakehead University Faculty of Education, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1, Canada. Fax: 807-346-7771; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://cjee.lakeheadu.ca

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16

Indigenous Populations; Environmental Education; Foreign Countries; Music; Self Concept; Youth; Power Structure; Neoliberalism; Public Policy; Environment; American Indians; American Indian History; American Indian Culture; Canada Natives; Interviews; Literacy

1205-5352

Based upon the life histories of six Indigenous hip hop artists of the Beat Nation artist collective, this essay captures how Indigenous hip hop has the potential to revolutionize environmental education. Hip hop provides Indigenous youth an emancipatory space to raise their opposition to neocolonial controls of Indigenous territories that denigrate traditional ways of life, and to gather strength by engaging in the decolonizing processes of reclaiming their land, culture, language, and identity. Hip hop also helps youth recognize authentic dialogic education; build knowledge of Indigenous culture, language, and history; and develop strategies to change oppressive forces into resilient personal practices that transform Indigenous communities. This study is motivated by a commitment to showcase how alternative youth culture has the potential to resist neoliberal policies fueling neocolonialism and environmental devastation in Canada. (Contains 2 notes.)

As Provided

45

2013

EJ990620