14387-8
WF
Graduate
Ethnomusicology Seminar,
Dr.
Ron Emoff
Aftereffects of colonialism still commonly
resound in nation/states formed since the late 1940s. Much ethnomusicological attention has turned
toward performance as a means of maneuvering in varied ways through
independence, as a critical procedure in the conceptualization, implementation,
and maintenance of nationhood. In this course
we shall examine the role of musical expression in the formation––ideologically
and geographically––of autonomous states in once-colonized locales. We will examine scholarship from the fields
of ethnomusicology, musicology, anthropology, and critical theory to become
attuned to theoretical and ethnographic issues involved with musical expression
and consumption in postcolonial places. We will begin to align musical analysis
with what is
known as postcolonial studies. Later in the course we will explore
colonial-like musical activities in a current global system of exchange,
creolization, and mass relocation of people.
In addition to
theoretical readings, students will read several area studies written by
current music scholars. Assignments will
include the weekly reading assignments, written projects, in-class discussions
and in-class presentations. We will also
draw upon my own research in
Students will give
individual presentations of the weekly readings in class on specified
days. The goal here will be to
synthesize important and interesting points in the readings to the rest of the
class, and to generate discussion among us all.
Writing
assignments:
There will be two
papers due in this class. The first will
be at least 8 double-spaced pages, and will be an exercise in exploring one
particular postcolonial phenomenon/issue/problem (involving for instance
diasporic communities, musical appropriations, postcoloniality and
gender...). This paper will be a broader
discussion of the chosen issue, with reference to the readings and to your own
research experience and interests.
This first paper will
be worth 30 % of the total grade for the course. This paper will be due at the
end of the fifth week of the class.
In the second paper,
each student will
write at least 10 double-spaced pages on some facet of postcolonial dynamics,
ideology, politics, practice, etc., that surfaces in their own particular field
or place of research (or cultural area of interest). This paper can also take the form of a polemic that
counters or argues with some postcolonial theories (i.e., it does not have to
support the readings, only to engage with them).
This paper will be
worth 40 % of the final grade.
The remaining 30% of the grade will be based upon
active participation in class discussions. This will include evidence that each student has thoroughly read, contemplated , critiqued,
and synthesized the readings.
Theme I “First contacts, going primitive,
colonial reckoning.”
Read:
Dirks,
Nicholas
1992 “Introduction: Colonialism and Culture.”
In Colonialism and Culture.
Hisama,
Ellie
2000
“Postcolonialism
on the Make: The Music of John Mellencamp, David Bowie, and John Zorn.” In Reading
Pop: Approaches to Textural Analysis in Popular Music.
Thomas,
Nicholas
1992
“The
Primitivist and the Postcolonial.” Colonialism’s Culture.
Torgovnik,
Marianna,
1990 “Defining the Primitive/Reimagining
Modernity.” Gone Primitive.
Theme II “Accommodation,
resistance, spirituality, mimesis, talking back, and
ethnographic
writing in a postcolonial state.”
Read:
First
half of
Emoff,
Ron
2002 Recollecting
from the Past: Musical Practice and Spirit Possession on the East
Coast of
Series.
Mbembe, Achille
1992
“The
Banality of Power and the Aesthetics of Vulgarity in the Postcolony.” Public
Culture, 4(2): 1-30.
Second
half of
Emoff,
Ron
2002 Recollecting
from the Past: Musical Practice and Spirit Possession on the East
Coast of
Series
Chatterjee,
Partha
“The
Taussig, Michael
1996
“The Construction of
Theme
III “Nationhood, race, processes of identity-formation.”
Read:
First
half of
Askew, Kelly M.
2002 Performing
the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in
Prakash,
Gyan
1995 “Introduction: After
Colonialism.” Imperial Histories and Postcolonial
Displacements.
Read:
Second
half of
Askew, Kelly M.
2002 Performing
the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in
Mitchell,
Tony
1996
“Real
Wild Child: Australian Popular Music and National Identity. Popular Music and Local Identity: Rock, Pop
and Rap in
Theme
IV “Facing the colonial-like back in
the
Read:
First
half of
Heble
Ajay
2000
Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz,
Dissonance, and Critical Practice.
and
Gilroy,
Paul
1993
“Sounds
Authentic: Black Music, Ethnicity, and the Challenge of a Changing Same.” In Imagining
Home: Class Culture, and Nationalism in the African Diaspora.
Read:
Second
half of
Heble
Ajay
2001
Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz,
Dissonance, and Critical Practice.
and
Gross,
Joan, David McMurray, and Ted
Swedenburg
1996
“Arab Noise and Ramadan Nights: Rai, Rap and Franco-Maghrebi
Identities.” In
Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity.
Theme V “Global replays of colonialism, global
imagination, consumption of otherness, world beats; and, gender and empire.”
McClintock,
Anne
1995 from Imperial Leather.
Said,
Edward
1984
“The Empire at Work :
Verdi’s Aida.” Culture and Imperialism.
Vintage Books.
Erlmann,
Veit
1999 from Music, Modernity, and the Global Imagination.
University
Press.
Read:
Feld,
Steven
1996 “Pygmy POP: A Genealogy of Schizophonic
Mimesis.” Yearbook for Traditional
Music.
_____
2000
“A Sweet Lullaby for World Music.” Public Culture 12(1): 145-171.
Stoler,
Laura
1992 “Rethinking Colonial Categories: European
Communities and the Boundaries of Rule.”
In Colonialism
and Culture.
Students
give in-class presentations of their second written projects. Conclusions,
discussion, musings...
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______
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______
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_____
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______
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______
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______
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