SPRINGFIELD – "HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes," a documentary by Byron Hurt, will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 29, in Brookens Auditorium, lower level of Brookens Library, on campus at the University of Illinois at Springfield. A panel discussion featuring UIS faculty and staff will immediately follow. Both the film and discussion are free and open to the public.
The event is presented by UIS' Queer-Straight Alliance in partnership with the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC).
In "HIP HOP" Hurt takes an in-depth look at issues of masculinity, sexism, consumerism, and homophobia in hip-hop culture and in the larger American society. Jimmy Brower, chair of the Queer-Straight Alliance at UIS, emphasizes that, as GenderPAC points out, portrayals of masculinity in hip-hop and rap often mimic stereotypes of aggressiveness, violence, sexism, and homophobia. Challenging these attitudes successfully requires an analysis of gender and its intersection with race, and the promotion of new definitions of masculinity and femininity.
The film is designed to help ask broader questions about gender and race while building new partnerships and coalitions around these issues and has been hailed as "groundbreaking," "a work for social justice activists of all ages."
More information about the film is available at www.bhurt.com/, or contact Brower at qsa@uis.edu.
