MUSC 4800 Studies in World Music

Prerequisite: Upper division standing or permission of the instructor. Studies in World Music provides an introduction to the traditional, classical, and popular musics of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and their historical development, social and cultural contexts, performance styles, aesthetics, and philosophies. Students examine music cross-culturally across four themes: music and religion, music and healing, music and the theatre, and music and resistance. Using various primary and secondary sources as a starting point, students analyze the ways in which music-making practices are imbricated in race, class, gender, politics, and social movements. Students also learn the methodological approaches of ethnomusicology and develop strategies for analyzing, listening, reading, and writing about world music.