Politics as Usual: Decoding the Attacks on a Liberal Education

Politics as Usual: Decoding the Attacks on a LiberalEducation by David J. Leonard, Mark Anthony Neal and JamesBraxton Peterson | NewBlackMan
Few university courses generate much attention frommainstream media, but Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson's course "TheSociology of Hip-Hop: Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z" has drawn national attentionfrom NBC's Today Show, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, USA Today, and Forbes.com among many others. To be sure such attention is not unusual for Dyson, who is one of themost visible academics in the United States and has offered courses dealingwith hip-hop culture, sociology, and Black religious and vernacular expressionfor more than twenty-years.  Yet,such attention seems odd; hundreds of university courses containing asignificant amount of content related to Hip-hop culture and Black youth aretaught every year—and have been so, for more than a decade.  In addition, there are dozens ofscholarly studies of Hip-hop published each year—Julius Bailey's edited volume Jay-Z:Essays of Hip-Hop's Philosopher King , among those published just thisyear—and two Ivy League universities, Harvardand Cornell, boastscholarly archives devoted to the subject of Hip-Hop.
Any course focused on a figure like Jay-Z (Shawn CoreyCarter), given his contemporary Horatio Algernarrative, and his reputation as an urban tastemaker, was bound to generateconsiderable attention, but the nature of the attention that Dyson's class hasreceived and some of the attendant criticism, suggest that much more is atplay.
In early November, The Washington Post offered some of the first national coverage ofthe class, largely to coincide with the arrival of Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne tour to Washington DC'sVerizon Center.  Jay-Z dutifullycomplied with the attention by giving Professor Dyson a shout-out from thestage. The largely favorable article about the class, did make note, as have manysubsequent stories, about the cost of tuition at Georgetown; as if somehow thecost of that tuition is devalued by kids taking classes about hip-hop culture.
Other profiles of the course and Dyson have gone outof their way to make the point that the course had mid-term and final exams, asif that wouldn't be standard procedure for any nationally recognized seniorscholar at a top-tier research university in this country.  Such narrative slippages speak volumesabout the widespread belief that courses that focus on some racial and culturalgroups, are created in slipshod fashion and lack rigor; it is a critique thatis well worn, and that various academic disciplines, such as Women's Studies,Ethnic Studies and even Sociology have long had to confront.
As ethnomusicologist Joe Schoss, author of Foundation:B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York , recently suggested onFacebook, courses constructed around the mythology of "great men" are often thevehicle in which outlier disciplines are made legible within traditionalacademic settings. Indeed Dyson's career has been marked by such studies, wherehe's examined figures such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marvin Gaye, hip-hopartists Tupac Shakur and Nas (Nasir Jones).  He is also teaching a class on the legacy of Jesse Jacksonthis semester, to commemorate the Civil Rights leader's 70thbirthday. 
Figures like Dyson, and Brown University ProfessorTricia Rose, who authored the landmark BlackNoise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America in 1994,were at the forefront of establishing Hip-Hop studies as a viable—and yespopular—academic discipline for nearly two decades. 
The reality of the presence of Hip-Hop Studies atvirtually every major college and University, unveils the "oh my, golly gee"discovery mode of so much of the reporting and controversy surrounding the JayZ class, as more manufactured, than anything else.  More to the point, the attack on the validity of a classfocused on a prominent and highly influential cultural figure, who happens tobe a young Black man who has trafficked in outlier sub-cultures, seems moreemblematic of an assault on the value of a liberal education. This assaultcomes at a historical moment when the products of a liberal education, areliterally raising critical questions about the nature of inequality in Americansociety.
There are other critics, some of whom throw dartsfrom within the realm of Hip Hop Studies. They disparage Jay-Z as merely a misogynist, a hustler who promotesconsumerism and other poisonous messages to young minds that mindlessly followhim.  Some of these same criticshave also questioned Dyson's knowledge of Hip Hop culture, his cultural bonafides on the discourses of the subject matter and his ability to choose theappropriate subjects.  So at thesame time that conservative critics question the validity of Hip Hop studiesvis a vis Shakespeare or *yawn* classical music, other critics (the one's we'dassume might appreciate the value of such a course in the broader context ofAfricana, Popular culture, and Hip Hop studies) are quick to cast Dyson as anoutsider; to proffer Dead Prez or Mos Def as more appropriate subject matterfor this kind of course. 
Well, "we don't believe you/You need more people." "Doyou dudes listen to music?/Or do you just skim through it?"   Yes Jay-Z's music has many limitations, faults, and criticalflaws – some of which he is poignantly aware.  But that is exactly why his life and lyrics make substantivesubject matter for sociological inquiry. His influence and impact – or what some may deem popularity orsell-out-status – are more grist for the sociological mill.  In the end, the critique of the coursethat suggests that Hip Hop Studies has no place in the academy is eerily In a recent article that was less than optimisticabout the future of the humanities within American higher education, Dr.Frank Donoghue wrote, "When we claim to wonder whether the humanitieswill survive the twenty first century, we're really asking, 'Will thehumanities have a place in the standard higher-education curriculum in theUnited States?' (2010).  The answerappears to be no from a myriad of places.   "But there's no denying that the fight between thecerebral B.A. vs. the practical B.S. is heating up," writes NancyCook in "The Death of Liberal Arts."  "For now, practicality is the frontrunner, especially as therecession continues to hack into the budgets of both students and the schools theyattend." Peddling the often-cited binaries between "cerebral" and "thepractical," the intellectual and the useful, Cook highlights the ubiquitousattack on academic enterprises that seemingly don't produce tangible results orprofits.
While commentators tend to focus on the declininginterest and place of a liberal arts education that has resulted from theincreased costs of higher education, the focus on securing a good job upongraduation, and the professionalization of higher education, the waning placeof liberal arts and humanities is not simply an organic process.  It reflects a direct assault fromconservative factions within the American political landscape.  In Texas, Governor Rick Perry and theTexas Public Policy Foundation called for substantial changes in the deliveryof higher education, proposing greater emphasis on teaching and research thatbenefits the state and its economic needs.  Defending the call for reform, RonaldL. Trowbridge, "The Case for Higher Ed Accountability" described his viewson educational reform in the following way:
What is the value of any research endeavor to students or to widersocietal needs? Some process of evaluation must be established. If researcherswish to pursue matters that do not serve students or wider societal needs, theyare certainly free to do so, but such should be so without release time fromthe classroom.
Texas is not alone.  In Florida, Governor Rick Scott recently announced hisdesire to remake public universities with greater emphasis on programs thatstimulate the economy and produce future workers in key industries.  "If I'm going to take money from acitizen to put into education then I'm going to take that money to createjobs," Scottnoted "So I want that money to go to degrees where people can get jobs inthis state."  The divestment ofpublic investment in the arts, human inquiry, and humanistic endeavors has beencentral to the conservative movement. Opposition to intellectual pursuits and the neoliberal emphasis onprofessionalism has had profound influence on contemporary culture.
Describing a friend who wanted to study comparativeliterature, Andrew Bast notes his initial reaction as one of "bewilderment" and"fascination," asking himself, "What in the world would be the value in that?"Capturing the hegemonic of the assault and systemic devaluing of the humanitieswithin contemporary culture, he makes "TheCase for a Useless Degree:"
I later learned that there's actually a huge value in it. Computerscience, accounting, marketing—the purpose of many majors is self-evident. Theylead to well-paid jobs and clear-cut career paths. (One hopes, at least.) Butcomparative literature, classics, and philosophy—according to the newconventional wisdom—offer no clear trajectory.
The recent spectacle and media frenzy surroundingMichael Eric Dyson's "Sociology of Hip-Hop" course points to the powerful waysthat "useless degrees" and "useless" knowledge are under attack.  It also exposes the critical discoursesthat exist within Hip Hop studies – who can teach it/who is authentic enough toteach it.  The media frenzy and the debate about this class reflect awell-organized attack on the humanities, liberal arts education and individualacademic FREEDOM.
Strangely enough, theinternecine squabbles about whether or not Jay-Z is fit to be taught or if Dysonis fit to teach similarly swirl in the discursive diatribes against certain"less practical" disciplines.  Whatreflects back at us is an ideology that demonizes critical thought, demonizesintellectual inquiry, and silences conversations about race, gender, inequalityand other issues of social injustice.  A focus here on Jay-Z or Michael Eric Dyson misses the pointbecause the class is becoming a stand-in for a larger assault on education,intellectualism, and critical thinking. The media coverage and the ensuing debates about it—on social media—reflect an overall effort to demonizethose who teach, those who educate, and those who articulate "freedomdreams."  The culture wars areback and it's us against them and us against us. 
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David J.Leonard is Associate Professor inthe Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington StateUniversity, Pullman. He is the author of ScreensFade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema and the forthcoming After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop(SUNY Press). Leonard is a regular contributor to NewBlackMan and blogs @ No Tsuris. Follow him on Twitter @DR_DJL.
Mark Anthony Neal is the author of five booksincluding the forthcoming Looking forLeroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities (New York University Press) andProfessor of African & African-American Studies at Duke University. He is founder and managing editor of NewBlackMan and host of the weeklywebcast Left of Black .  Follow him on Twitter @NewBlackMan .
JamesBraxton Peterson is Director ofAfricana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University  and the author of theforthcoming Major Figures: Critical Essays on Hip Hop Music(Mississippi University Press). Follow him at @DrJamesPeterson.