I Got a Story to Tell: How Hip Hop Pedagogy Informs College Counseling Practices

Abstract

2020Community colleges serve as open-access educational institutions that meet the needs of diverse learners accessing educational attainment such as associate degree programs, certificate programs, transfer, and lifelong learning. Community colleges are exploring ways of becoming more "student-ready" by closely examining the access and equity of programs, processes, and practices for all students. One of the major areas examined are the processes and practices of community college counseling. Drawing from research that illustrates the impact on student engagement and sense of belonging using culturally responsive and relevant practices serving students of color, the purpose of this study is to explore how four California community college counselors' lived histories, experiences, and understanding of Hip Hop culture shaped and informed their college counseling practices with students. In examining the "aesthetics" of Hip Hop pedagogy in college counseling through the lens of Rendón's Sentipensante Pedagogy, I used the methodology of portraiture to mix and blend both traditional research disciplines with ethnography and storytelling. Portraiture artfully and methodically captures the contours and complexities of the counselors' experiences. This study proposes that the following four aesthetics of Hip Hop when used in counseling practices: 1) keepin' it real (authenticity),2) show and prove, 3) politics of space, and 4) sampling and remix, can assist with co-constructing empathic and humanizing counseling experiences with students. Further recommendations and research include capturing students' voices and experiences, professional development and training, curricular integration into counselor education programs, and Hip Hop's applicability and practice in online counseling.