March 25 program speaker to focus on race and gender in Hiphop
TURLOCK – Race and gender in the Hiphop music movement will be the focus of a special program on Wednesday, March 25 titled “Is Oprah Right? Race and Gender Politics in Hiphop.” Celebrating both Black History Month and Women’s History Month, the 1:30 p.m. program will be held in the California State University, Stanislaus Event Center of the University Union. Admission is free and open to the public.
Dawn-Elissa Fischer, Ph.D., a member of the Department of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University who has used Hiphop to raise awareness and address a variety of current issues will be the keynote speaker. She will address how Hiphop attracts youth from around the world, examine its messages about race, class, gender, and sexuality, and talk about the potential for it to become the basis of a new social movement. She notes that Oprah Winfrey has hosted programs on her television show discussing race, gender, and language in Hiphop.
Co-sponsored by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Ronald McNair Scholars Program, the event is free and open to the public.
Fischer is co-founder of a civic engagement project called National Hiphop Political Convention. She is also a founding staff member and associate director of research and development of the Hiphop Archive, established in 2002 at Harvard University, which is devoted to the knowledge, art, culture, materials, organizations, movements, and institutions developed by those who support and follow Hiphop. Fischer co-produced the Hiphop Archive’s first film, “Nihon Style,” with filmmaker Bianca White.
Fischer’s dedication to research and practice that serves community interests and secures social justice includes service as executive director of an organization that promotes life skills and self-help of underserved children and families and as an advisory board member with another organization that focuses on health and HIV/AIDS education for African-American girls.
With indications that Hiphop has become a political force among today’s emerging leadership in countries all over the world, Fischer has studied social movement organizations in China, Japan, South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal, Sweden, Norway, Cuba, Jamaica, and Russia.
