(W)rapped space: The architecture of Hip-Hop

My research work is broadly framed around the confluence of contemporary an d historical-spatial-theoretical understandings, architecture, the progress ive self-defining energy of African-American culture, and the historical le gacy of urban spaces in current society. A preeminent principle of this con fluence focuses on questions of identity. "(W)rapped Space: The Architectur e of Hip Hop" theorizes the development of an African-American spatial para digm that at once recalls, creates, and deploys a new space of diasporian o rigin that is predicated on a response to spaces that represent an erasure of identity and, concomitantly, the presence of repressive power.