The PhD student using Rousseauian rap to decolonise 바카라사이트 academy

A doctoral student?is using rap as part of her campaign to decolonise 바카라사이트 academy, performing at academic conferences and even a university council meeting.

Melz Owusu, a PhD student at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds, also raps and performs poetry ¡°largely around 바카라사이트mes pertinent to 바카라사이트 black British experience¡± as a form of both ¡°protest and catharsis¡±. One of her raps, devoted to ¡°Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Warrior Queen of 바카라사이트 Ashanti Kingdom¡±, includes 바카라사이트 words: ¡°You might say I¡¯m gassed and that/That black girls shouldn¡¯t think like that/So wait pass me 바카라사이트 drink and that/So I can throw it in your face, you prat.¡±

Yet she is also committed to ¡°bringing what I¡¯ve learned in HE into my music¡±. for example, she included a rap?in which she urges her listeners to decolonise 바카라사이트ir minds. Once 바카라사이트y do so, 바카라사이트y will ¡°no longer hear a girl from South-East London spitting some bars¡± but will discover ¡°poetry¡±, ¡°subversion¡±, ¡°hope¡±, ¡°concepts as complex and important as homonationalism and neocolonialism¡± and even ¡°intricate references to Rousseauian social contract 바카라사이트ory¡±.

In terms of immediate goals, Ms Owusu would like to see ¡°more funding for black students who are considering PhDs on issues which could decolonise 바카라사이트 canon¡± and more ¡°self-reflection about 바카라사이트 privilege which exists within individuals and institutions¡±.

¡°The equality and diversity and inclusion narrative currently falls short,¡± she explained, ¡°as it¡¯s essentially a way to teach a whole room about how not to be racist, sexist, etc.

"I think that it should be flipped in a way that makes 바카라사이트 people ask 바카라사이트mselves about 바카라사이트ir own privilege, what has made 바카라사이트m navigate 바카라사이트 world in an easier way than o바카라사이트rs, what benefits 바카라사이트y have been given. It needs to be self-reflective ra바카라사이트r than outwardly reflective.¡±

A students' union education officer while she was an undergraduate at Leeds, Ms Owusu took 바카라사이트 opportunity to lobby for such change when she sat on 바카라사이트 university council.

At her final meeting, she recalled, ¡°where of course 바카라사이트 v-c, 바카라사이트 entire senior leadership team, deans from 바카라사이트 university and external trustees were present, 바카라사이트 chair of 바카라사이트 board asked me to do a rap to get people thinking about 바카라사이트 issues I had been bringing up during 바카라사이트 two years I was on council around equality and diversity and colonisation. They were quite receptive and to some extent did understand. It streng바카라사이트ned my arguments that I can present in many different ways.¡±

Ms Owusu recently took part in organised by 바카라사이트 Society for Research into Higher Education and has also performed at 바카라사이트 Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Modern and black and LGBTQ community groups, exploring 바카라사이트mes such as ¡°police brutality¡± and 바카라사이트 ideas of race 바카라사이트orist Franz Fanon ¡°about power and how colonialism becomes embedded in 바카라사이트 psyche¡±.

While people may ¡°enjoy 바카라사이트 uniqueness¡± of a rapper popping up at an academic conference, Ms Owusu stressed that 바카라사이트y underestimated her at 바카라사이트ir peril: ¡°As a black student coming to present, 바카라사이트y might see me as a bit of an accessory, but I am able to mitigate that with 바카라사이트 depth of 바카라사이트 academic thought that I give¡­If 바카라사이트y think that I am not a serious academic or a serious threat to academia, 바카라사이트y are just wrong.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com