SHUM 4852 - Afrofuturisms and Global Sonic Diasporas

(crosslisted)
(also ASRC 4852, COML 4116, MUSIC 4352, VISST 4852)

Fall. 4 credits.

Limited to 15 students.

M. Boon.

This course explores contemporary sound cultures as they relate to broader issues of politics and aesthetics, community and praxis. Topics to be addressed include: Afrofuturism; music, sound and noise as universals; global sonic diasporas; “folk”, populism and popular discipline; subculture, mass culture and counterculture in the digital era. We will read theoretical works by Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, Paul Gilroy, Steve Goodman, Michael Warner alongside literary texts by Amos Tutuola and Gautam Malkami and musicological writings by Cornelius Cardew, Henry Flynt, Sun Ra and Rammellzee.