DA THESIS.

A Proposal For Independent Study By Lindsee "The Lieutenant."

Declaration.

I am undertaking a thesis of my own structuring as both the establishment of myself as a scholar of my research-based Systems Design Practice in visual-sonic-material cultural theory, as well as a case study for future offerings of PLTN Academy.

Why.

The standard of expertise should not lie within institutions of colonialism.* Black/proletarian ways of knowing are more than valid and real.

• Affirmation through autoethnography

Design and cultural work (and any other field, really) are practices that should be grounded by theory and an ideological line, as well as ongoing engagement with the people.

*DISCLAIMER: Excluding hard/licensed professions and studies. Safety first.

About.

Title: Designing an Ecosystem of Cultural Work in Hip-Hop’s Black Visual-Sonic-Material Culture

Questions:

Crate-Digging

• What are the ways in which Hip-Hop’s Black Visual-Sonic aesthetics have been leveraged as propaganda for radical political activation?

• How has the Black Radical Tradition shown up in Hip-Hop?

• How does Hip-Hop further the Black Radical Tradition?

Grounding

• What are strategies that can be deployed within Visual-Sonic-Material cultural work for the radical political activation of the modern Black diaspora?

• How can one ideologically ground oneself as a cultural worker in Hip-Hop?

Theoretical Foundations

• critical theory as methodology

• critical pedagogy - Freire, Cabral

  • Guerrilla Intellectualism - Rodney

• Africana critical theory - Dubois, Fanon

• Black Radical Tradition - Robinson, Moten

• Black Arts Movement

• Public Pedagogy for Black Gen Z (Downer, 2023.)

  • PLTN Academy as practice-based outcome

• Reconstructive Phases for Design (Downer, 2022.)

Preliminary High-Level Goals

• Realizing the revolutionary potential of Hip Hop

• Developing a modern day vision for anti-capitalist “propaganda”

  • Relevant in aesthetic

  • Provocative in content

  • Radical in values

• Supporting literacy and critical thought

  • propagating truthful cultural narratives

Guidelines & Timeline

Self-paced; Jan 2024, Sep 2024 to Jul 2025

• subject to adjustment due to life circumstances as an independent practitioner

• Written + Practice-based components

  • Written outcome published via Special edition of Academy publication

  • Various PLTN Academy ventures as demonstration of practice

Advising Team

Jennifer Rittner

Justin Smith of Afrovisualism

Nick Nelson

Geng PTP

Aishamanne Williams - Peer Reviewer and Collaborator

Methods

Visual-Sonic-Material cultural work practice

• Research

  • crate digging & archiving (Arena, Bridge?)

  • autoethnography

  • semiotic & impact analysis

  • mapping/diagramming

  • sampling

  • tagging (as annotation)

• Visual communications

  • styling

  • graphic/visual design experimentation

  • photo & video-based collages

• Sonics

• Sample-based (music, speech, vids) production & compositional experimentation

• Material Design

  • Garments

  • Objects

• Propaganda/Public pedagogy

  • Publication; Zines

  • Essays (traditional & creative)

  • “DVD”

  • Exhibition

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