A cross-cultural historical examination of Santa Claus reflects that women have contributed substantially to the legend of Santa Claus, but their contributions are downplayed, demeaned, or reframed to fit a sexist view of women's roles. Santa Claus type figures have emerged around the world as part of celebrations of the winter solstice, but…

Chengdu's popular music, with its profound historical and cultural significance, serves as an educational resource at the intersection of music, literacy, and cultural education. This research aims to propose guidelines for the teaching resource of Chengdu popular music for fostering literacy and cultural education. Located in the culturally…

Through the use of horror movie motifs like zombies and mad doctors, "The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" (2015) stands in drastic contrast to other young adult dystopian properties like "The Hunger Games" (2012), for example, in that "Scorch Trials" uses allegory as a means to comment on neoliberalism, alienated…

This research features a discourse analysis of two podcasts: the "Mobb Deep, Shook Ones, Pt. II" episode of "Song Exploder" and the "Rap on Trial" episode of "Hidden Brain." We selected these podcasts through an abductive method of what we call "fortuitous listening" because of how they reveal…

Musical play is a vital aspect of children's musical cultures. As the social and cultural experiences of children change over time, their playful engagements with music may reflect these shifts. The purpose of this oral historical research was to explore girlhood musical play experiences over the course of a span of approximately 80 years (ca.…

This narrative inquiry research study explores the ways in which hip-hop culture functions as a form of resistance to the oppressive and traditional spaces that constitute predominantly white institutions (PWIs) of higher education. Despite the prevalence and power of hip-hop among Black collegians, little is known about how hip-hop can assist…

Hip Hop is a cultural phenomenon deeply rooted in the collective knowledge and resistance of Black and Latina/o(x) youth, who are often silenced or missing from the traditional social studies curriculum. Even as the culture's presence has spread within schools, the social studies has yet to engage with the civic identities and critical…

This feature describes the efforts of the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge to offer programming presenting hip-hop and spoken word poetry. These events, begun in 2016, feature genres relevant to the university's diverse and global enrollment. Though not traditional library presentations, they recognize the wide appeal of…

Investigating children's pop cultures that rely on myth-making provide understandings about how children are active agents in the socialization into cultural and moral practices in their everyday lives. An annual visit to Santa Claus is important in children's pop culture in the Western world, however, the social practices associated with the…

In my investigation of dance curricula in US higher education, the dance discipline's primary pedagogical concentrations in classical ballet and Eurocentric modern dance techniques implicitly signal their centrality to the development of any academically trained dancer. This focus, in turn, generalizes and essentializes other cultural and…

In this New York City, New York-based study, we made use of a Critical Cycle of Mixtape Creation (CCMC) intervention to examine a Bangladeshi high school student's understanding of justice, and the impact of injustice on his well-being, through his creation of and reflection on original hip-hop song lyrics. The student participated in the CCMC…

In 1963--a racially-charged time in the United States--James Baldwin delivered "A Talk to Teachers," urging educators to engage youth in difficult conversations about current events. We concur with Giroux (2011, 2019) that political forces influence our educational spaces and that classrooms should not be viewed as apolitical, but…

Hip-hop is a truly African-American art form in every sense of the phrase. Multiple decades after its development into the genre that we recognize it as today, hip-hop firmly remains a fundamental and unique element of African-American culture that has experienced international presence and regard. As a direct result of deep involvement with…

Social justice--oriented evaluation approaches are described as participatory, culturally and contextually responsive, and self-empowering. These evaluation approaches call for the genuine participation of stakeholders for sound evaluations, particularly those outside of decision-making and service providing. Similarly, hip-hop is commonly…

The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria describes children as the heritage of the society because children occupy a special place in societal survival and continuity. Children are esteemed and appreciated. Thus, the embedded culture propagates the essentiality of children, the need for proper socialisation and internalisation to make a responsible…