Music 3364 (3 credit hours)
GEL: Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), Global Studies (GS)
GEN: Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World Theme (CT)
Open to music majors and non-majors. No musical experience required.
Please consult Class Search to confirm course meeting times, locations and delivery mode.
Course Description
This course explores the varied relationship between music and politics in the world today. It addresses the essential role music plays in the political lives of individuals, communities and states in a variety of cultures and societies.
Topics covered include:
- the sounds and sentiments of social activism in the public sphere
- the value and challenge of cultural advocacy in civil society
- and the work of partnering with (non)governmental institutions, community organizations, and grassroots affiliates to advance one’s musical art and politics
By taking a comparative, cross-cultural and trans-national perspective, the course considers the myriad ways in which music resounds the arguments, concerns and desires of political communities worldwide.
The course will help students:
- gain aural and conceptual familiarity with a variety of music cultures from around the world
- understand the various means by which public culture informs and shapes citizenship in different societies
- develop basic skills for thinking, conducting research and writing about music, both as sound and in the context of social and political life
- evaluate the political aspects of their personal and local musical environments
- discover what music can contribute to social and political engagement in the public sphere, and the world more broadly