Friday, May 23, 2014 | University of California, Irvine | Humanities Gateway 1010/1030 | Cross Cultural Center
This nationwide conference/concert will be the first academic gathering that examines the three decades long phenomenon of Filipino American hip hop cultural production. A joint partnership with The Humanities Collective, the Culture and Theory Graduate Student Association, the Department of Asian American Studies, Student Affairs, the Associated Students at UCI, Associated Graduate Students, Kababayan at UCI, B-Boys Anonymous, and Hip Hop Congress’s Urban Arts Festival, this event promises to attract a community of students, performers, educators, and scholars from the Southern California region as well as from other regions around the nation.
In light of the new anthology series Empire of Funk: Hip Hop and Representation in Filipina/o America (Cognella Academic Publishing), the event will bring into conversation the editors of the anthology—Mark Redondo Villegas (PhD candidate, Culture and Theory, UCI), Candice Custodio-Tan aka DJ Kuttin Kandi (Program & Outreach Coordinator at Bay Area Girls Rock Camp), and Dr. Roderick Labrador (assistant professor, Ethnic Studies, University of Hawai`i, Manoa)—and a growing intellectual and artistic community who are taking seriously the cultural and political phenomenon of Filipino American involvement in hip hop. We will attempt to synthesize ongoing conversations about Filipino American cultural productions and performances, especially as they relate to the racial and sexual politics of this group’s involvement in hip hop. As UCI has a storied relationship to hip hop dance, this campus is the appropriate space to host the event.
A day of academic panels will be topped off by a performance show featuring the same artists who will be speaking on these panels.
Program—
[Humanities Gateway 1010/1030]–Free
8:30am- Coffee and light breakfast reception
9:30am – Opening Comments: Jeff Chang (executive director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts + Committee on Black Performing Arts at Stanford)
9:45am- Empire of Funk Editors’ Symposium moderated by Jeff Chang featuring:
> Mark Villegas (UC Irvine)
> Kuttin Kandi (Bay Area Girls Rock Camp)
> Rod Labrador (University of Hawai`i, Manoa)
10:30am – Panel Discussion: “Regional Filipino American Hip Hop Scenes.” Respondents: Jeff Chang and Dr. Robyn Rodriguez (Asian American Studies, UC Davis), featuring:
> Sean Slusser (UC Riverside)
> Oliver Wang (Cal State Long Beach)
> Mark Pulido (Mayor of Cerritos)
> Bambu (The Bar)
12 noon – Lunch provided
1pm – Panel Discussion: “Translocal Cultural Flows.” Respondent: Dr. Christine Balance (Asian American Studies, UC Irvine), featuring:
> Rod Labrador
> Arnel Calvario (Kaba Modern, Culture Shock LA)
> Cheryl Cambay (Kaba Modern, Culture Shock LA)
> Prometheus Brown (The Bar)
2:30pm – Panel Discussion: “Filming the Funk” program moderated by Mark Villegas featuring:
> Patricio Ginelsa (Kid Heroes Productions)
> John Castro (The Debut)
4pm – Dinner on your own
6pm – [Cross Cultural Center] Dance Cipher featuring Kaba Modern and B-Boys Anonymous members and Concert featuring Bambu and Prometheus Brown as “The Bar,” DJ Kuttin’ Kandi, Klassy, and Gingee