WUSTL Course Listings Login with WUSTL Key
Search Results: Help Display: Open + Closed     Just Open     Just Closed View: Regular     Condensed     Expanded
1 course found.
POLITICAL SCIENCE (L32)  (Dept. Info)Arts & Sciences  (Policies)SP2021

L32 Pol Sci 406Topics: Music and Politics3.0 Units
Description:This course provides an exploration of the connections between popular music and contemporary politics. We explore four main themes in the course, taking care to learn about the political/historical events that inspire the music. 1. We start with the experience of the United States in the Vietnam War. Vietnam was central to both the politics and culture of the 1960s and 1970s and it thus had an outsized impact on the direction of innovations in popular music. Vietnam is also noteworthy as it is the first war where combatants had ready access to popular music while in combat, which led to interaction between music and war-fighting that was unprecedented. We will take a close look at the conflict itself in addition to reading, listening, and thinking critically about the music its participants produced and "consumed." 2. We focus on race and politics in the United States, exploring the role that protest music has played and continues to play as a mode of expression and contestation. After discussing the persistent role that race plays in American politics, we cover some key protest songs, how they were influenced by events as well as how they influenced the processes they criticized. 3. We undertake a sweeping exploration of soul music in America, and its interaction with race and politics over several decades. The scope of the treatment is quite comprehensive, as we start with early forms of gospel and blues, subsequently moving through the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and into more contemporary musical movements with political relevance. 4. We next tie music and musical events that span borders. We first examine several prominent pieces of global protest music, paying special attention to three songs from Nigeria, Chile and Jamaica. We conclude the course with a discussion of how musicians have formed and participated in transnational advocacy networks (TANs), covering the "boomerang" model of transnational advocacy developed by Keck and Sikkink and using this framework to think about the seminal Concert for Bangladesh organized by George Harrison and its continuing impact on advocacy over the last several decades. The overall goal of the course is to learn about key political events, and shedding light ontheir dynamics and development through the lens of popular song. Given the atypical course material, we will spend a good deal of class time listening to music and watching film footage that helps contextualize both the politics and the music being discussed.
Attributes:A&S IQSSCArtSSCBUHUMENS
Instruction Type:Remote per COVID-19 Grade Options:C Fees:
Course Type:HomeSame As:N/AFrequency:Unpredictable / History
SecDays       TimeBuilding / RoomInstructorFinal ExamSeatsEnrollWaits
01M-W----1:00P-2:20PRemote / LA CarterNo Final20170
Desc:remote; synchronous each meeting
REG-DelayStart: 1/25/2021   End: 5/13/2021
Actions:Books
Label

Home/Ident

A course may be either a “Home” course or an “Ident” course.

A “Home” course is a course that is created, maintained and “owned” by one academic department (aka the “Home” department). The “Home” department is primarily responsible for the decision making and logistical support for the course and instructor.

An “Ident” course is the exact same course as the “Home” (i.e. same instructor, same class time, etc), but is simply being offered to students through another department for purposes of registering under a different department and course number.

Students should, whenever possible, register for their courses under the department number toward which they intend to count the course. For example, an AFAS major should register for the course "Africa: Peoples and Cultures" under its Ident number, L90 306B, whereas an Anthropology major should register for the same course under its Home number, L48 306B.

Grade Options
C=Credit (letter grade)
P=Pass/Fail
A=Audit
U=Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
S=Special Audit
Q=ME Q (Medical School)

Please note: not all grade options assigned to a course are available to all students, based on prime school and/or division. Please contact the student support services area in your school or program with questions.