Sankofa Speakers

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words 

and cannot remain silent.”
                                                         ~ Victor Hugo

The words of Hugo are demonstrative of the infectious influence of Hip Hop culture in America and throughout the world. Key elements of Hip Hop that move beyond music have sparked a shift in the way we think, communicate, examine historical milestones, develop identity, shape public policy, behave as consumers, and construct social institutions. Thus, Hip Hop becomes conversant with the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary foundations of academia and articulates the need for critical pedagogy and scholarship that interrogates the lived experiences of underrepresented and marginalized communities worldwide. As a result, Hip Hop pedagogy embraces Sankofic approaches -- drawing from the past to move forward with integrity into the future. As such, the ‘us vs. them’ narrative holds credibility as uniquely authentic because the story articulates how power, perceived or real, is elusive to those at the bottom of socio-political, economic and geographical hierarchy. As a result, a redeeming quality of Hip Hop culture is the transculturalist identity that highlights systemic and institutionalized oppression.

The Sankofa Lecture Series serves as a medium to examine how contemporary practitioners of Hip Hop, domestic and abroad, continue this legacy.

 

 

Dr. Winston Grady-Willis                              Dr. B. Afeni McNeely Cobham

Historian and Professor                                Curator

School of Gender, Race and Nations              Sankofa Lecture Series 
Portland State University

 

Previous Sankofa Lecture Series speakers and performers include:

 

 

 

 

Talib Kweli

Metropolitan State University of Denver
April 13, 2012

 

 

 

MC Lyte

Metropolitan State University of Denver
October 4, 2012
 

 

Richard 'Crazy Legs' Colon

Metropolitan State University of Denver
October 5, 2012

 

Chuck D

Metropolitan State University of Denver
September 26, 2013

 

Dead Prez

Metropolitan State University of Denver
September 25, 2014
 

Malik 'Phife Dawg' Taylor
Featured Performance
Sankofa 'After Set'

Denver, Colorado
September 25, 2014
 

9th Wonder

Metropolitan State University of Denver
September 24, 2015
 

Dr. Regina N. Bradley
aka 'Red Clay Scholar'

Metropolitan State University of Denver
September 24, 2015

Rosa Clemente

Connecticut College
September 15, 2016

Photo Credit: R. Clemente