The intersection of academic rigor and street-level artistry is rarely found in the sterile environment of a doctoral seminar, but for Viraj Patel, the two are inseparable. A doctoral student in the School of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University and a practicing rapper in the U.S. Midwest, Patel is redefining how the academy views hip hop—not merely as a set of lyrics to be analyzed, but as a living, breathing interaction of human emotion and mechanical precision.
Patel was one of two Illinois State scholars who recently brought these unconventional perspectives to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting. Centered on the evocative theme, “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures,” the conference served as a backdrop for research that challenges traditional pedagogy, pushing for a more humanized approach to how we teach history, language, and empathy.
Alongside fellow doctoral student Robby Anggriawan, Patel represented a new wave of educational researchers who are moving away from purely quantitative data and toward “feelings-first” methodologies. Their presentations highlighted a shared goal: using art—whether through the beat of a drum machine or the illustrations in a children’s book—to recover silenced narratives and build more resilient, globally-minded citizens.
The Sonic Architecture of Memory
For many scholars, analyzing rap music involves a literary approach, treating lyrics like poetry on a page. Patel’s research, titled “Voice, vibe, and place: Rewriting spatial histories through hip hop aesthetics,” argues that this method misses the point. Through autoethnographic research—a process where the researcher uses their own personal experience as the primary data source—Patel explores how the “vibe” of a track is just as communicative as the words spoken over it.
Patel posits that meaning-making in hip hop is a collaborative effort between human and non-human elements. In his view, a song is not just a poem; This proves a sonic architecture built from the interaction of producers, DJs, and audiences, mediated by tools like Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), turntables, microphones, and MIDI instruments. By focusing on these technical and emotional layers, Patel explores how hip hop allows artists to “unforget” and rewrite histories that have been distorted or erased by dominant cultural narratives.
This approach shifts the focus from what is being said to how it is felt. By prioritizing the aesthetic experience, Patel suggests that educators can better understand the spatial histories of marginalized communities, using the rhythm and resonance of the music to map out identities that traditional textbooks often ignore.
Glocal Language and the Pedagogy of Empathy
While Patel looked toward the streets and studios of the Midwest, Robby Anggriawan turned his attention to the intimate pages of children’s literature. Anggriawan, who holds an M.A. ’20, presented research titled “Stories of displacement: Analyzing war, refugees, and immigrants in children’s picture books with English as a glocal language.”
The term “glocal”—a blend of global and local—is central to Anggriawan’s thesis. He argues that when English is used as a glocal language, it ceases to be a tool of colonial imposition and instead becomes a bridge for empathy. By analyzing how authors and illustrators portray trauma and resilience, Anggriawan demonstrates how carefully crafted imagery and storytelling can prevent the oversimplification of the refugee experience.
For Anggriawan, the goal is to move beyond superficial representations of “the other.” His work examines how picture books can be leveraged in classrooms to help children navigate the complexities of war and displacement, ultimately fostering a generation of students who are more caring and globally aware. His research bridges the gap between teacher preparation and social justice, providing a blueprint for educators to introduce difficult global histories without stripping the subjects of their dignity.
Comparative Focus of AERA Presentations
| Researcher | Primary Medium | Core Objective | Theoretical Lens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viraj Patel | Hip Hop Aesthetics | Rewriting spatial histories | Autoethnography / Feelings-first |
| Robby Anggriawan | Children’s Picture Books | Analyzing displacement & resilience | Glocal Language / Social Justice |
The Power of the ‘Beat Drop’ in Academia
Beyond the formal presentations, the AERA experience provided a visceral reminder of why this research matters. For Patel, the highlight of the conference was not a peer-reviewed paper, but a moment of performance art. During a session led by Dr. Jason D. Rawls, a prominent scholar in hip hop studies, the concept of “crate digging”—the ritual of searching through records for samples—was presented as a legitimate epistemology, or a way of knowing the world.
To illustrate this, Dr. Rawls orchestrated a perfectly timed beat drop that resonated through the room. For Patel, this was a validation of his entire research trajectory. “That one moment alone was worth going to AERA,” he noted, highlighting the necessity of bringing actual art into the academic space to truly understand its impact.
For Anggriawan, the value lay in the professional community. Returning to Illinois State University, he noted a renewed energy in his own teaching, observing that his students were eager to hear about the conference. This cycle of inspiration—from the scholar to the student—is the ultimate goal of humanizing pedagogies, creating a “community of practice” that extends far beyond the walls of a single university.
The work of Patel and Anggriawan suggests that the future of education lies in its ability to embrace the hybrid. Whether it is the fusion of a MIDI controller with a history lesson or the use of a picture book to explain the geopolitics of displacement, these scholars are proving that the most effective way to imagine a future is to first learn how to properly remember the past.
The academic community now looks toward the upcoming publication cycles and the integration of these findings into teacher preparation programs. As these doctoral candidates progress toward their degrees, their work will likely influence how the School of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University continues to blend social justice with innovative artistic mediums.
Do you believe the arts should play a larger role in formal educational research? Share your thoughts in the comments or share this story with an educator in your network.
