Alphabet rap: hip hop and the recoolification of creative pedagogies as research

Drawing on contemporary arts education research (Dimitriadis 2009 and Ellsworth 2005) and Halberstam's critical theory of failure (2011), this paper uses a recent hip hop project with Sudanese young people from refugee backgrounds in Melbourne, Australia to question the constitutive power of creative pedagogies, hip hop and the Americanisation of the aspirations of former refugees in resettlement. While I argue that role models, particularly people of colour, are crucial to social, creative and pedagogical engagement, education systems now need to consider more broadly the possibility of flexible sites of learning and pedagogy that are interculturally creative and adaptive. This article is multi-modal reflecting its subject matter, featuring three viewable online video clips, created by project participants and the creative team and researchers, and colourful still images which reflect the interests and diversity of this creative pedagogical project. The hip hop music video created by the Sudanese Culture Shack participants with their Caribbean -Canadian artist in Melbourne, Australia offers testament and artefact to the multi-layered value of such work, and as Halberstam encourages us, pokes holes in the business-as-usual of hegemonic educational culture. It is simultaneously pedagogical, creative, collaborative and integrative, and continues to point toward the need for innovative pedagogies that are able to integrate creativity, collaboration and culture, and offer formal credit in return.