Have you ever compared yourself to a hip hop artist as you sit hunched over your laptop writing a memo or brief? No? Then you should definitely join Professor Kim Chanbonpin for the next installment of the Scholars & Students series
In her recent article Legal Writing, the Remix: Plagiarism and Hip Hop Ethics, Prof. Chanbonpin explores the parallels between the cultures of U.S. legal writing and hip hop. Chief among these similarities is the reliance of both cultures on an archive of knowledge, borrowing from which authors or artists build credibility and authority. Whether it is from case law or musical recordings, the necessary dependence on a finite store of information means that the past work of others will be frequently incorporated into new work. The ethical and professional danger inherent in this type of production is that one who borrows too freely from the past may be merely copying instead of interpreting or innovating. In the academic world, this is plagiarism. Members of the hip hop community call this “biting.” In neither culture is this mode of production celebrated.
Please join us for lunch and a conversation with Prof. Chanbonpin about her scholarship on Monday, March 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm in Room 608.
Space is limited. RSVP to jsommer@jmls.edu
