This Winter Session, students can take advantage of a rare opportunity to visit Planet Rap: Where Hip-Hop Came from and Where It's Going (MUSIC 2370). Only offered during Winter Session once before, the online course is taught by Catherine Appert, an ethnomusicologist and associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music. Dr. Appert will survey the vast musical and cultural impact rap has had on the world since its inception in New York City during the 1970s.

“Youth around the world not only consume American hip-hop, they’ve created their own adaptations of rap and hip-hop into texts, dance and visual culture,” said Dr. Appert. “The course traces ongoing connections between hip-hop’s roots in the cultural expression of marginalized youth in the urban United States and its relationship to contemporary pop culture. We’ll trace rap’s journey around the globe where diverse practitioners have mobilized its beats, rhymes and culture to address their own experiences of oppression and celebration and to agitate for social justice.”

The School of Continuing Education (SCE), which offers Winter Session, asked Dr. Appert what students can expect from this three-credit, three-week course offered online, Jan. 2-19.

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