MU 112 - Music Cultures of the World
This course explores the overdetermined concept of "world music," paying close attention to the commodification of "world music" and "world music" artists, as well as examining critically the conventional definitions of ‘local’ and ‘global’. A variety of issues pertaining to the socio-cultural, historical, and political ideologies within various musics and musical practices (including performance and listening practices) from around the world are analyzed using an interdisciplinary theoretical perspective, including critical race and post-colonial theories. The complexities of systems of power and the acting out of these power relations through representation, exoticization, and appropriation of musical practices are closely interrogated. This course promotes a critical approach, taking up the complex signifiers of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexuality, and class, as they relate to music, and as part of an ongoing integrative framework. All students are required to participate in workshops, attend concerts and field trips.
