HASTAC 2023 Conference

This presentation explores the researcher’s hermeneutic spiral while connecting and creating visual art for educational purposes. It aims to unravel the familiar and unfamiliar key elements of the Golden Ratio (Phi) and the Golden Era of Hip-Hop (1985-1992). More specifically, the rapper Rakim’s knowledge production and his impact on the global rap culture during that era. Although Rakim did not have a high school degree, he had a thirst for knowledge that led him to read texts in which he used in his lyrics to educate his community. During Rakim’s “non-traditional” studies the rapper learned about the Golden Ratio.

According to Rakim (2019), “[t]he golden ratio gave me a deeper understanding and a deeper love for life.” That begged the question: How can others engage with the Golden Ratio and its features through design? It provoked thought and question about Rakim’s lyrics, the Golden era, math, science, philosophy and so much more. I began to interact and reflect with the text/graphics and context differently with new information and understanding. I drew expanding the narrowness (Dunne & Raby) of explaining the Fibonacci sequence to offer more engaging rhetoric around the shapes, numbers, culture, and meanings. In other words, the spiral opened more possibilities to reflect, speculate, dream and question. When it comes to design, homing in on culture was imperative for scholarship representation. The researcher designed the infographic to open discussion on what it looks like based on a set of values that are more cultural and relatable. The ontological and epistemological experience of creating the spiral infographic created its own critical-making hermeneutic spiral.