Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Sep 2011 Open Access

Battling to be Heard

Damon Cagnolatti

Abstract

Using the work of Keith Gilyard (Voices of The Self) and Victor Villanueva (Bootstraps) as models for interrogating his own development as a writer of color, Cagnolatti explores the way Hip Hop influenced his rhetorical education in the urban and militant environment of a Los Angeles magnet high school. Through his detailed analysis of the E.M.E.R.G.E. (Elevated Minds Embracing Righteousness and Gaining Equality) collective he joined in high school, he provides an in-depth and passionate model for how teachers should use Hip Hop forms such as battling, freestyling, and ciphering to shape their approach to college composition instruction and community engagement.

Journal
Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
Published
2011-09-01
DOI
10.59236/rjv11i1pp126-143
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Topics
rhetorical criticism first-year composition
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References (10) · 1 in this index

  1. Alim (2006)
    Roc the Mic Right: The Language of Hip Hop Culture
     ↗
  2. Canagarajah (1997)
    Safe Houses in the Contact Zone: Coping Strategies of African-American Students…
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Fiasco (2006)
    Part II: Revenge of the Nerds
    Lupe. Fahrenheit
  4. Fisher (2009)
    Black Literate Lives: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
  5. Flower (2008)
    Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement
Show all 10 →
  1. Fitzgerald (2000)
    Ludacris. Theatre of the Mind
  2. Hill (2009)
    Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity
  3. Perry (2006)
    Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop
  4. Pough (2004)
    Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere
  5. Young (2007)
    Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy and Masculinity
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