Lectures in Musicology: Mark Katz, University of North Carolina

Hip hop artists
October 9, 2023
4:00PM - 5:30PM
18th Ave. Library, 175 W. 18th, Room 205

Date Range
2023-10-09 16:00:00 2023-10-09 17:30:00 Lectures in Musicology: Mark Katz, University of North Carolina Mark Katz, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, presents "Centering Artists and their Communities in Hip Hop Higher Education." Katz is John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music at UNC–Chapel Hill and Founding Director of the U.S. State Department hip hop cultural diplomacy program, Next Level. This lecture is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Libraries; the Mershon Center for International Security Studies; and EMIC, the graduate student organization for the study of expressive culture. We are grateful for funding provided by the Center for Ethics and Human values. In U.S. higher education, the majority of those who teach or write about hip hop are not hip hop practitioners (The Ohio State University is one of a very few institutions that has hired hip hop artists as permanent faculty members). In this talk Katz argues that it is vital for any hip hop-related scholarship, pedagogy, or advocacy to center the artists and communities who live and create this culture. He makes this argument from the perspective of a scholar and teacher who is not a practitioner: "I am a white man who owes a good deal of my academic success to my partnership with exceptional hip hop educators and artists, most of them people of color." Throughout his talk he cites examples of academic gatekeeping and the marginalization of hip hop artists within academia and offer suggestions for more equitable practices intended to serve hip hop artists and universities alike. Mark Katz is John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Founding Director of the U.S. State Department hip hop cultural diplomacy program, Next Level. His five books include Capturing Sound: How Technology has Changed Music (2004, rev. 2010), Build: The Power of Hip Hop Diplomacy in a Divided World (2019), and Music and Technology: A Very Short Introduction (2022). He is co-editor of Music, Sound, and Technology in America: A Documentary History (2012) and former editor of the Journal of the Society for American Music (2012–15). He is currently at work on Rap and Redemption on Death Row, a co-authored book with incarcerated musician Alim Braxton, and a third edition of Capturing Sound. Lectures in Musicology is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Libraries. Lectures are held Mondays at 4 p.m. in the 18th Avenue Library, 175 W. 18th Ave. (Music/Dance Library, second floor, room 205), unless otherwise noted. These events are free and open to the public. Campus visitors, please use either the Tuttle Park Place Garage or the Ohio Union South Garage. All other garages in the vicinity of the 18th Ave. Library are closed to visitors before 4 p.m. Driving and Parking Instructions All events are subject to change. Musicology Events 18th Ave. Library, 175 W. 18th, Room 205 School of Music music@osu.edu America/New_York public

Mark Katz, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, presents "Centering Artists and their Communities in Hip Hop Higher Education." Katz is John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music at UNC–Chapel Hill and Founding Director of the U.S. State Department hip hop cultural diplomacy program, Next Level. This lecture is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Libraries; the Mershon Center for International Security Studies; and EMIC, the graduate student organization for the study of expressive culture. We are grateful for funding provided by the Center for Ethics and Human values.

In U.S. higher education, the majority of those who teach or write about hip hop are not hip hop practitioners (The Ohio State University is one of a very few institutions that has hired hip hop artists as permanent faculty members). In this talk Katz argues that it is vital for any hip hop-related scholarship, pedagogy, or advocacy to center the artists and communities who live and create this culture. He makes this argument from the perspective of a scholar and teacher who is not a practitioner: "I am a white man who owes a good deal of my academic success to my partnership with exceptional hip hop educators and artists, most of them people of color." Throughout his talk he cites examples of academic gatekeeping and the marginalization of hip hop artists within academia and offer suggestions for more equitable practices intended to serve hip hop artists and universities alike.

Mark Katz

Mark Katz is John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Founding Director of the U.S. State Department hip hop cultural diplomacy program, Next Level. His five books include Capturing Sound: How Technology has Changed Music (2004, rev. 2010), Build: The Power of Hip Hop Diplomacy in a Divided World (2019), and Music and Technology: A Very Short Introduction (2022). He is co-editor of Music, Sound, and Technology in America: A Documentary History (2012) and former editor of the Journal of the Society for American Music (2012–15). He is currently at work on Rap and Redemption on Death Row, a co-authored book with incarcerated musician Alim Braxton, and a third edition of Capturing Sound.


Lectures in Musicology is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Libraries.

Lectures are held Mondays at 4 p.m. in the 18th Avenue Library, 175 W. 18th Ave. (Music/Dance Library, second floor, room 205), unless otherwise noted. These events are free and open to the public. Campus visitors, please use either the Tuttle Park Place Garage or the Ohio Union South Garage. All other garages in the vicinity of the 18th Ave. Library are closed to visitors before 4 p.m.

Driving and Parking Instructions

All events are subject to change.

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