Raphael Travis

Empowerment in Context: Lessons from Hip-Hop Culture for Social Work Practice

Hip-hop culture can be used as a conduit to enhanced cultural competence and practice skills through the individual and community empowerment framework. This framework is introduced as a tool for direct practice that allows social workers to understand the competing messages within hip-hop culture and how they may impact youths by promoting or inhibiting positive youth development. The individual and community empowerment framework can inform direct practice skills for improved communication and relationships by providing a structure for collaborative development of goals and change strategies. The individual and community empowerment assessment tool and a sample music index are included.

Ethnic identity, self-esteem and variability in perceptions of rap music's empowering and risky influences

Violence, risky sexual behaviors, and substance use are critical targets for improved health behavior. Prior research has linked levels of exposure to rap music with a range of undesirable health behaviors. Contemporary research has also found health-enhancing and other ‘positive’ correlations with rap music exposure. The present study examined unique and shared effects among ethnic identity, self-esteem, music exposure, age, and gender on depressive symptoms among 128 high school and college students, along with variables reflecting empowering and risky rap music influences. Data analyses used structural equation modeling. The full model demonstrated excellent fit (Chi-square (df) = 13.6 (14); CFI = 1.0, TLI = 1.0; RMSEA = 0.000) and strong support for hypothesized variable pathways. Music exposure contributed little independently to undesirable outcomes. Positive ethnic identity was associated with greater music-influenced empowerment. Greater perceived music-influenced empowerment was associated with significantly less depressive symptoms. Participants who were younger, male and with higher self-esteem were most significantly associated with perceived music-influenced risk. The least likely to show depressive symptoms were individuals who felt rap music inspired them to connect with others, consider experiences of others, think critically about the world around them, and want to make a difference in their communities.

Negotiating Risk and Promoting Empowerment through Rap Music: Development of a Measure to Capture Risk and Empowerment Pathways to Change

The purpose of this study was to report on the development and construction of the Individual and Community Empowerment (ICE) inventory, a measure seeking to capture the specific pathways by which either risk-enhancing impacts or empowering impacts of rap music manifest. Data were analyzed via structural equation modeling from a convenience sample of 128 high school and college students. Results found that respondents elicited (1) empowering themes that related to them individually and to the broader community and (2) high-risk themes that may promote risky health behaviors. Implications about research and practice relevance of the ICE inventory are discussed.

Validation of the Individual and Community Empowerment Inventory: A Measure of Rap Music Engagement among First-Year College Students

Amid robust debates about the impact of music on the lives of young people, empirically validated measures of music engagement are absent. The present study builds on the construction of the Individual and Community Empowerment (ICE) inventory, a measure to capture different types of empowerment and different types of risk potential from rap music engagement. The scientific intent of the scale development and the present validation study was to test the simultaneous presence of empowerment and risk associated with music engagement and its application to the individual and community. A unique sample existed for the present study in comparison to the original, with the bulk of respondents being first-year college students and White. Results of the present study suggest that the ICE inventory is an effective and comparative measure of risk and empowerment. Major findings about the instrument’s utility were replicated, but results were divergent from original research on certain demographic trends with respect to gender, age, and race/ethnicity. Empowering and risky music engagement scale means were higher among male and younger respondents. White respondents had significantly lower mean scores than all other groups on empowerment scales, and African Americans had lower scores on the individual risk scale than other groups. Each result suggests the need for additional research. The validation of the ICE inventory offers promise for helping to collect, organize, and interpret new data on associations between music engagement and desirable health and well-being outcomes.

Hip-Hop and Pedagogy, More than Meets the Eye

In a small undergraduate seminar, we simultaneously examined Hip-Hop culture and created an environment conducive to empowerment-based development. The course was guided by the Individual and Community Empowerment Framework introduced by Travis and Deepak (2011) and elaborated upon by Travis (2013). Recent discussions of Hip Hop integrated pedagogy capture the full range of its value to individuals and communities (Hall, 2011).

The Community Action Framework in Practice: An Illustration Based on the Ready by 21 Coalition of Austin/Travis County

The field of positive youth development has expanded focus from articulating and measuring desired manifestations of positive well-being to assembling the environmental conditions known to promote these desired outcomes. Evidence of the effectiveness of community-level efforts promoting positive youth development is still emerging, in particular theory-driven examples of community-driven youth development. This study examined the Community Action Framework, one theory-based community youth development model, through the experiences of the Ready by 21 Austin/Travis County coalition (RB21). The coalition connects youth-serving organizations and also regional coalitions, while promoting the positive development of area youth. Participant observation, interviewing, and archival strategies were integrated to capture information related to the complex and dynamic coalition. Results indicated that RB21 represents a practical and meaningful application of the Community Action Framework. Specific examples and recommendations are provided as guidance for other community level youth development efforts.

Hip Hop, empowerment, and clinical practice for homeless adults with severe mental illness

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the use of a music and empowerment-based group as a vehicle for engagement, and therapeutic, and social-emotional benefits with homeless adults coping with severe mental illness in a shelter setting. The authors present a conceptual framework that includes case illustrations to capture the group process. The group was guided by the MUZUZE Hip Hop and empowerment framework, which is meant to facilitate well-being as evidenced by indicators of social-emotional learning and empowerment-based positive youth development. The authors found that the use of Hip Hop helped foster well-being via pathways of individual and community empowerment. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Musical Interactions: Girls Who Like and Use Rap Music for Empowerment

Abstract This paper builds upon a new era of research seeking to understand variability in how desirable outcomes result from engaging rap music as a health enhancing artifact. More specifically, the study explores the music mediated pathways to individual and community well-being. The study emphasizes female music engagement. Quantitative methods are used to examine listening habits and preferences associated with empowering rap music engagement among a female sample of 202 university students using an a priori established path analysis model. Results echo prior research that suggests the functional value of music in helping to define the self independently and articulate one’s social identity within the context of community (Dixon, Zhang, & Conrad, 2009; Hill, 2009; Travis & Bowman, 2012). Specifically, results suggest that among females in this sample, (a) their appropriation of rap music can be empowering, (b) specific factors play a significant role in determining the difference between females that feel more or less empowered from their interactions with rap music, and (c) female listeners were more likely to appropriate rap music for personal and community growth if it was their favorite music type, if they listened often, and if they tended to listen alone more often than with friends. These research findings offer promising routes for more in depth qualitative analysis to help uncover the nuances of preferred engagement strategies and to help define the subjective lived experiences that lead to feeling empowered by music to act toward positive change for oneself and others. Practical results indicate the possibility for gender-specific education, therapeutic or empowerment-based programs that utilize rap music as a rubric.