Cfp: Journal of Popular Music Education, Special Issue: Hip-Hop Across Educational Contexts (Deadline: 02.03.2026)

Call for Papers: Journal of Popular Music Education
Special Issue: ‘Hip-Hop Across Educational Contexts’

View the full call here
https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-popular-music-education#call-for-papers

For too long, music education has privileged Western classical traditions
while marginalizing or excluding the cultural expressions of Black, Brown,
and working-class communities. Hip-Hop education challenges this paradigm
by centering the knowledge systems, aesthetic values, and lived experiences
of communities historically and systematically marginalized by traditional
education. By validating students' cultural identities and providing tools
for creative expression and critical analysis, Hip-Hop education creates
pathways for engagement, achievement, and empowerment among learners who
have been systematically excluded from full participation in education
(Love, 2017; Hall, 2023; Hill & Petchauer, 2013; Seider & Graves, 2020).

If we are serious about equity in music education, we must embrace
pedagogical approaches that honor the cultural wealth students bring to our
classrooms, and Hip-Hop education offers a powerful model for doing so.
This special edition seeks to illuminate the diverse ways Hip-Hop is being
utilized in music educational contexts—from K-12 classrooms and community
centers to higher education and informal learning spaces.

We invite submissions that examine Hip-Hop education through multiple
lenses and across varied contexts. Topics may address a wide range of
themes, including but not limited to:

• The intersection of Hip-Hop pedagogy with broader music education
  practices: How Hip-Hop challenges, complements, or transforms traditional
  music education paradigms

• Innovative teaching methodologies in Hip-Hop education: Explorations of
  pedagogical approaches that center Hip-Hop's elements (MCing, DJing,
  breaking, graffiti, knowledge) and cultural values

• Community engagement initiatives: Programs that leverage Hip-Hop to build
  connections between educational institutions and local communities,
  particularly those serving systematically marginalized populations

• Archival and curatorial practices: Efforts to preserve, document, and
  share Hip-Hop history and culture within educational settings

• Cultural perspectives and contextual analyses: Examinations of Hip-Hop
  education across different geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic
  contexts, including global Hip-Hop pedagogies

• Social justice and critical pedagogy: Hip-Hop as a tool for developing
  critical consciousness, addressing systemic inequities, and empowering
  student voice

• Identity, representation, and authenticity: Explorations of how Hip-Hop
  education addresses issues of race, class, gender, and cultural identity

• Technology and digital production: The role of music production software,
  digital platforms, and new media in Hip-Hop education

• Interdisciplinary connections: Integration of Hip-Hop across curriculum
  areas, including language arts, social studies, STEM, and the arts

We welcome submissions that represent the breadth of scholarship and
practice in Hip-Hop education. We invite submission of full papers between
6000 and 8000 words by 2 March 2026 at
https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-popular-music-education, where
authors can find submission guidelines. We additionally invite more
narrative Practices and Perspectives contributions that privilege
practitioner activities in the field. Prospective authors are welcome to
contact guest editors Kelly Allen (kallen8[at]augusta[dot]edu) and Edmund Adjapong
(edmund.adjapong[at]shu[dot]edu) with any questions or inspirations.