Dr. Joycelyn Wilson – Assistant Professor of Black Media Studies at Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
Although she was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Dr. Joycelyn Wilson grew up in Southwest Atlanta. She started her career as a high school algebra teacher in 1997 where she would integrate her southern Hip Hop sensibilities and her love for the rap duo OutKast to manage racially and economically diverse learning environments.
Dr. Wilson is now an educational anthropologist and serves as an assistant professor of Black media studies at Georgia Tech where her research centers Hip Hop culture as a design remix. The brains behind the OutKast Imagination; an analytical tool to help students decode and design media, her courses are some of the most popular taught at colleges and universities. Her current scholarship examines hip hop as a cultural phenomenon, its preservation in the American South, and the capabilities of applying hip hop-inspired design methodologies to connect music and remix with education involving computing and media arts.
Not only is Dr. Wilson a trailblazer for Hip Hop teaching, but the Emmy-nominated film producer writes frequently about the history of Atlanta culture, Down South Hip Hop, Trap, race, and technology. Her ideas appear in scholarly and popular publications, including the Handbook of Remix Studies and Digital Humanities and The Bitter Southerner. Her book project with the University of Georgia Press is set for a 2024 release, and her commentary has been featured on MSNBC, NPR, and others, including the Times.
Joycelyn Wilson is featured in the 2023 Atlanta United FC production ‘Inside the 404’, where she touches on the influence the Hip Hop coming out of Atlanta in the 90s had on the music scene ever since. ‘Inside the 404’ is a documentary produced by Atlanta United FC in collaboration with Atlanta Influences Everything, as part of the launch of the 404 Kit, Atlanta United’s 2023 third kit.
