Learning Processes and Social Mobilization in a Swedish Metropolitan Hip-Hop Collective

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research on the encounter between local culture and schools in multicultural suburban areas, this article explores possibilities suggested by autonomous learning activities in a hip-hop collective that may have a potential to break urban segregation patterns. The collective’s artistic production raises questions that have not been answered in schools, such as how the increasing class divisions between different parts of the urban landscape should be understood and dealt with. Different types of learning are identified connected to the self, others, and careers. Implications for schooling are briefly discussed.