“You don’t have to have any experience. There are no prerequisites. You just have to be interested in exploring music from a cultural and political angle.”
In a world where diplomacy has become synonymous with treaties, bureaucracy, and conflict, hip hop is changing the narrative. Professor Mark Katz has taught hip hop diplomacy in a wide array of formats all circling around his work with Next Level. Next Level’s mission is to use hip hop music, dance, and art to foster cross-cultural creative exchange in diverse communities.
When asked about MUSC 291, Dr. Katz shares, “Well, the course is called Hip Hop Diplomacy, and it’s within the broader subject of music and politics, but it’s a case study on the U.S. government’s use of hip hop, art, and culture, as a form of diplomacy and international relations. It’s a way of studying both hip hop as an art and culture and cultural diplomacy as a form of international relations.”
Katz’s journey in hip hop diplomacy began with his role as the founding director of Next Level, a cultural diplomacy program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. “I was traveling, creating the program, and immersing myself in cultural diplomacy,” Dr. Katz recalls. His connection to the subject matter is evident in his teaching. “I like to connect my teaching to my research,” he explains.
In late 2019, Professor Katz released a book entitled Build: The Power of Hip Hop Diplomacy in a Divided World where he recounted his experiences with Next Level. He now uses this book as a foundational textbook for his hip hop diplomacy courses. Dr. Katz adds “It is a good way to both share what I was learning and what I was doing research on, but then also get ideas and feedback from students.”
To Dr. Katz, getting students involved in hip hop diplomacy, even foundationally, is important. The course is not just theoretical; it’s a platform for students to personally connect with aspects of hip hop diplomacy. One notable example, as Professor Katz emphasizes, is a student who interned at Meridian International Center, an organization that administers the Next Level program. This same student later went on to write a dissertation about hip hop diplomacy.
Connection is also integral to the course, “Other people have connected with some of the artists who have come through [the Next Level program], befriended them, collaborated with them”. In the class, so that everyone has this experience, Dr. Katz requires an interview assignment where students form groups and interview a hip hop artist who has done cultural diplomacy through the Next Level program. He adds, “At a minimum, every student gets to engage with a hip hop artist who has done this work.”
In a recent lesson, students in Hip Hop Diplomacy got the opportunity to video chat with Malagasy artist, TongueNat. During the chat, TongueNat answered questions regarding his most recent song and shared a perspective on making a living from hip hop in Madagascar. This is a common occurrence in the class. Students watch and reflect on a piece of art and speak with the artist afterwards. These moments are special and allow for a better connection to hip hop diplomacy.
As Dr. Katz reflects on the teaching schedule of this course, he anticipates that MUSC 291 Hip Hop Diplomacy will return. “There’s no fixed rotation,” he notes, “but I do expect that it will come back”. When asked about who should take this course, Professor Katz states, “It’s really suitable for any student who is interested in the cultural power of music and the arts in general. There are a lot of students in the class who know very little about hip hop and who didn’t spend time listening to hip hop. There are students who really don’t know much about the history of politics, but those students find connections. So really, you don’t have to have any experience. There are no prerequisites. You just have to be interested in exploring music from a cultural and political angle.”
Dr. Katz’s hopes for his students in hip hop diplomacy extend beyond academic achievement. “I want students to develop their critical thinking, listening, speaking, and writing skills,” he explains. He gives students the chance to listen to artists from all over the globe and teaches them the skills to discuss it. As a grounding principle, Dr. Katz emphasizes “we don’t often think about music as being part of international relations or about diplomacy or being part of the U.S. State Department. I want them to see how music and the arts in general have a unique place in the world that they may not have realized.”
The overlap between music and politics is one that few consider, but one that is well documented by Dr. Katz. He touches on a harrowing truth that many musicians have faced “Part of this is to combat the attitude that I see, unfortunately a lot, that the arts are kind of, nice, but they’re not really necessary. Part of the message that I’m trying to communicate is that the arts are vital to basically every aspect of our lives, and this is one example.”
by Makala Pitman, class of 2028