UTSC OVPRI Research Excellence Lecture Series – with Professor Mark Campbell – Feb. 01, 2023

“Doingthe Knowledge: Preserving Hip-Hop Culture Beyond 'the Archive'” with ProfessorMark Campbell

With hip-hop cultural memorabilia currently beingauctioned globally by international auction houses, exhibited by museums andarchived by 'ivy League' universities, there are clear signs of an archival turnin this once rebellious youth counterculture. In this talk I focus on theemergence of hip-hop archives in the United States and the exhibition of itsartifacts in multiple cities globally. I explore the role of hip-hop archivesin imagining possibilities for ethical acts of preservation, acts that breakfrom the colonial histories of archives.  I argue that the role ofartists, local cultures and hip-hop practitioner’s own preservation strategies,are central to the development of decolonial archival methods and the ethicalpreservation of hip-hop culture.