A Unofficial Anthropology of Hip Hop: June 2015

Chris Stedman: What can Humanists learn from hip-hop?

Monica Miller: One important thing hip-hop can do for Humanists is dislodge us from our preconceived notions about what a “Humanist” is, what a “Humanist” looks like, and what a “Humanist” might care about. I hope to disrupt—perhaps in good hip-hop or Humanist fashion—the preconceived notions about Humanism and who it “belongs” to.

At times rightly and at other times wrongly, Humanism has been regarded as decidedly white, affluent, and male. But I think Humanism can grow in size and social impact if we open up our ledgers to include sorts of Humanism we might not expect, such as the “outlaw Humanists”—people either outlawed by the larger society for ideological reasons, or outlawed by Humanist camps for not easily fitting into traditional definitions of Humanist or atheist.

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"On Hamra Street, which runs through the vibrant commercial centre of West Beirut, a new mural covers the side of a five-storey building. It is the face of iconic Lebanese performer Sabah, rising out of a cloud of Arabic calligraphy.

For Yazan Halwani, the 22-year-old Lebanese artist behind the mural, this is just the latest piece in a body of work that spans the city and its famous characters.

Halwani has adorned walls with portraits of poet Khalil Gibran and singer Fairuz, as well as lesser-known local heroes such as Ali Abdullah, a homeless man on Bliss Street who died one winter's night in January 2013. Although Beirut's graffiti scene is still young, Halwani is one of its vanguards."

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