Voor onderzoek is KIM van oktober 2014 tot mei 2015 werkzaam voor Georgia State University. En ja, dat betekent dat ze tot die periode in de geweldige stad Atlanta aka Hotlanta zit;) Op deze website zal ze regelmatig artikelen en updates plaatsen over haar avontuur. Op haar Atria blog (www.atriaontmoet.nl) zal ze af en toe in dagboekvorm berichten posten over de voortgang van haar onderzoek.

Most scholars that investigate hip hop culture focus on the history of hip hop, hip hop as a political voice or content analysis of rap lyrics. Rarely it has been examined how people interpret rap and hip hop music videos (Rose 1994, Sullivan 2003, Gilliam 2008). Empirical researchers that have examined hip hop culture seldom focus their attention specifically on black youth (Gilliam, 2008). In 2009 Kim Dankoor investigated how black and white girls, from the Netherlands and from the United States of America, give meaning to the portraits of black men and women in commercial hip hop music videos. Her research has shown that girls with a black ethnicity are more ‘involved’ with the characters in hip hop music videos and that they tend to identify with the women (video vixens) in hip hop music videos. The noteworthy results of her master’s thesis research inspired her to examine the influence of hip hop music videos on black females and males concepts of self. The gender (males – females) comparison in Kim’s research is thought-provoking, because in the average hip hop debate moral entrepreneurs focus on the implications for women. This examination will also show how hip hop music videos can affect men. Next to that, the evaluation of the self-concepts in relation to physical attractiveness and romantic appeal is more interesting when you can put the results of the subjects, the persons the males and females will refer to frequently, together.