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Scholars of The Culture:

Women of Hip Hop

w w w . s c h o l a r s o f t h e c u l t u r e . c o m

March 20-21, 2015

www.wileyc.edu
www.scholarsoftheculture.com

www.wileyc.edu



Table of Contents

Aretha Butler [Critical Panelist, St. Louis Univ.]

Aretha D. Butler, originally from the Bronx, New York, is a third year
Ph.D. student in American Studies at Saint Louis University. She is also
pursuing a certificate in Womens and Gender Studies. Her current
research interests include cultural studies with an emphasis in Black
cultural forms like hip-hop, theories of race in the United States from the
late twentieth century to the present, and cultural transnationalism. She
can be reached at abutle18@slu.edu

Conference Overview
Friday Program
Saturday Program
Presenters
Presenters Continued
Campus Map

Presenters Continued

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Clemonce Heard [Creative Panelist, Independent Scholar]

Clemonce Heard is a 26 year old New Orleans native. Heard moved to

Natchitoches, Louisiana along with his family days before Hurricane
Katrina's arrival his senior year in High School. During his years in
undergrad Heard founded a Creative Writing/Spoken Word
Organization by the name of Brainy Acts Poetry Society (BAPS). Heard
currently works as an instructor for Apple where he teaches creative
software while maintaining his writing passion outside of his job.

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Back Cover

Leegan Lim [Critical Panelist, Wake Forest Univ.]

Leegan Lim is currently a senior at Wake Forest University, majoring in
anthropology and biophysics. As a recipient of several research grants
through which he studied the history of popping dance culture. He is
currently conducting an ethnographic study on urban dance crews in
various universities throughout North Carolina. He is also a professional
popper and urban dancer, and he is currently the choreographer for
Momentum Dance Crew and founder and director of Crunchy Beats
Freestyle Dance Crew at Wake Forest University.

Tatiana McKinney [Critical Panelist, Independent Scholar]

Tatiana McKinney has a MA in Womens History from Sarah Lawrence
College in Bronxville, NY (May 2013). After graduating with her BA at
the University of Missouri-Columbia in Communications with double
minors in Spanish and Leadership/Public Service, she pursued a career
in education working internationally in China as well as in inner-city
schools in New York and Memphis, TN. She currently resides in
Courtland, MS and hopes to pursue a PHD in African American Studies
with an emphasis in women and gender studies and hip hop culture.

Presenters

Conference Overview

Rajul Punjabi [Critical Panelist, Journalist]

Scholars of The Culture

Rajul Punjabi is a New York and New Orleans based entertainment

journalist and educator. Her beat is hip hop, but she has written about
fashion, beauty, pop culture, race, gender, and social justice. Her favorite
part of these features and profiles is flipping projected illusions to reveal
the unvarnished reality that rappers are more polite than they appear
on TV. And shorter. Her byline has appeared in VIBE, The Village Voice,
The Boombox, Urbanology, Rap-Up, and on Billboard.com.

Wiley College seeks to establish the first annual conference at a

Historically Black College that addresses hip-hop culture from an
academic perspective. The aim is to facilitate student and attendee
exposure to the history, art, rhetoric, and industry of hip-hop, and to
increase participant awareness of the transformative possibilities and
academic value of hip-hop culture.
Through discussions of complex cultural issues that center on hip-hop,
students will be encouraged to develop their skills of critical thinking and
reflection by using the language that they are already familiar with as
media consumers.

Castel Sweet [Critical Panelist, Louisiana State Univ.]

Castel Sweet is a doctoral student at Louisiana State University in the
Department of Sociology. Primarily, her current research agenda is a
qualitative study of hip-hop artists in the southern United States, and
their embeddedness within their communities. She is a currently a
graduate assistant in LSUs College of Humanities and Social Science
Office of Social Service Research & Development, where she assists with
the planning and implementation of a $1.5 million grant from the US
Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, for
a three-year afterschool and summer program for at-risk youth.

Scholars of The Culture is essential for successfully shaping Wiley

Colleges 21st century identity as a vibrant campus where students
participate in critical contemporary dialog and become informed citizens
who are influential in their communities. Scholars, graduate students,
undergraduate students, and artists will participate in paper panels,
Show and Proves, Cyphers, and creative performances.
As a Historically Black College, Wiley College is dedicated to educating
and empowering its students, many of whom are the producers and
consumers of hip-hop culture. The College, in fulfilling its basic purpose
of providing a liberal arts education with a global focus, endeavors to
provide an intellectually stimulating environment, promote student
competencies in communication, and foster critical and analytical
thinking. Scholars of The Culture responds to the Colleges mission by
demonstrating to students the educational and global importance of hip-
hop culture.

Special Shout Out

Chris Adames
Cultural Event Producer
Senior at Wiley College

Show & Prove

Brianna Foster

The Show and Prove is a discussion lead by a Scholar. At times, sensitive

issues such as race, racism, culture, politics, sexism, religion, violence,
etc. are addressed. The Show and Prove is an academic and intellectual
endeavor. As such, FREE/OBJECTIVE debate, discussion and
examination of the material are warranted and essential for success.
While addressing these sensitive issues, students are not allowed to
engage in personal attacks, racism, sexism, or any other type of ism
with the intention to discriminate or create an inhospitable environment
for other students. Above all, remember that We Are Wiley. A Show and
Prove occurs at the end of each Panel Session. PEACE!

Social Media Strategist

Sophomore at Wiley College

Nick Lloyd
Video & Graphics Producer
Senior at Wiley College

Friday Program

6:00pm
Opening Plenary Session
Hodge Center

Welcome
Lee Aggison
Andrew Engel

Film Screening: Women of Hip Hop Music Videos

Show & Prove
Lateef Leffall

Saturday Program
9:00am 10:30am
Hodge Center
Creative Performance A: Ishmeal Herod (Wiley Student)
Panel Session A: Hip-Hop as Third Space
Aretha Butler, Leegan Lim

10:45am 12:15pm
Hodge Center
Creative Performance B: Clemonce Heard (Wiley Student)
Panel Session B: Hip-Hop Feminism
Rajul Punjabi, Jennah Brown (WC Student)

8:00pm
Reception
Hodge Center

12:15pm 1:45pm
Lunch
On Your Own

2:00pm 3:30pm
Hodge Center
Creative Performance C: AK Harris (WC Student)
Panel Session C: Hip-Hop as a Catalyst for Change
Tatiana McKinney, Castel Sweet, Summer Sudds (WC Student)

3:45pm 5:15pm
Hodge Center
Artists Workshop
Bring your creative/academic pieces for workshop opportunities.

8:00pm 12:00am
Cultural Event
Alumni Gymnasium
Valid college ID required for admission.