american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang

INTRODUCTION 33
not want to establish a binary between printed poetry and hip-hop,
especially because I look at hip-hop lyrics on paper, where, unfortunately,
they lose much of their power. They have many similarities as
well that bind them together under the heading of “poetry.” I know,
though, that some readers will find the juxtaposition of “high” culture
with supposedly “low” popular culture disagreeable. Yet others may
find that in the juxtaposition that a “counterdiscourse has become
institutionalized” as Georg M. Gugelberger has written about the
academy’s recent fascination with testimonio texts by Latin American
peasants (3). Whether I write about it or not, however, there will be a
vibrant part of hip-hop (and printed poetry as well) that will remain
countercultural and contestatory as it must if it is to continue to challenge
dominant discourses. Poets—whether they are Chinese T’ang
dynasty exiles, English Romantics, Nicaraguans in the midst of coups
and revolutions, Americans writing about Vietnam, women’s rights,
and the World Trade Centers, or hip-hop artists—have long tried to
make their verse do political work. The following chapters attempt to
explain how they do so in the multicultural, multilingual United States.