Cork university's role in the global study of hip hop features on TV series

THE world’s first global study of hip hop music and culture is currently taking place at UCC, and we get an insight into the project next week.

The series Game Changers has been exploring game-changing university research projects for the past six weeks, and the UCC project features in the final episode on RTÉ1 on Monday at 8.30pm.

The CIPHER Hip Hop Interpellation is housed in the UCC School of Film, Music, and Theatre and is funded by the European Research Council.

Here, Professor Griff Rollefson and a team of global researchers are investigating how and why hip hop, a highly localised African American music, has translated so easily to far-flung communities and contexts around the globe.

The music already impacts every young person across Ireland and across the world, so this study attempts to tell us why it is so appealing and useful for speaking truth, for combatting racism, but also its role as a creative and positive platform for tackling societal problems of identity and inclusion.

Also in Change Makers, there is a report on a project at TCD entitled Sorgente.

This involves community, academic and industry partners working together to encourage young refugees and migrants to engage with their imagination, while learning English as a second language.

The aim is to honour both their heritage identity and their new identity as migrants, while supporting teachers that work with refugees and migrants to use the arts, focusing on the present and future, rather than on the past.

The series has charted the work of university researchers and the lives of the people they are helping through various projects.