ASRC 2525 - Music, Politics and Social Movements in the US and the World

(crosslisted) AMST 2535, HIST 2525, MUSIC 2525
(HA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

K. Gaines.

Introduces students to the history of African American and African diaspora social movements during the twentieth century focusing on social and cultural origins of various genres of popular music. Lectures will emphasize the social and political contexts for popular music forms (blues, folk music, jazz, gospel, calypso, rhythm and blues, soul, fusion, disco, funk, Latin music, reggae, African popular musics, and hip hop). We will highlight various forms of social protest music during key social movements (Great migration, U.S. labor movement, African American struggles for equality culminating in the civil rights and black power movements, labor rebellions in the Caribbean, 1960s youth counterculture, antiwar movements, second wave feminism, and African national liberation). We will attend to connections between popular music and anti-racist movements abroad, and assess the role of the popular music industry, radio, television and other mass media in aiding/abetting movements for social change. We will also examine the global circulation and influence of American and African American popular music and culture.