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Music and Nation in Latin America (370-0-20)

Instructors

Lina M Britto
Harris Hall 302

Meeting Info

University Hall 121: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

This course takes students along a sonorous trip through Latin America and the Caribbean studying specific cases to comprehend why popular music has been crucial in the formation of nations and states.
The history of son in Cuba, samba in Brazil, tango in Argentina, corrido in Mexico, merengue in Dominican Republic, among others, help students understand how certain sounds became sonorous emblems of modern nations. These histories allow students to examine how popular music has mediated the tensions that resulted from processes of development and urbanization; and they illustrate how racial, gender, and class hierarchies have been represented in musical styles, shaping the contours of national identities and cultures.
We will also navigate the circuits in which certain sounds, such canción protesta, cumbia, salsa, rock, and reggaetón, crossed geographic boundaries and evolved into transnational genres that express the collective experience of revolution, rebellion, exile, and migration.
We address all these cases reading history, anthropology, sociology, journalism, and ethnomusicology. We will also listen, watch, and analyze critically songs, lyrics, music videos, movies, and documentary films.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to: (1)Identify Latin America's most popular musical genres and their political, economic, social, and cultural importance in the formation of the largest nation-states in the region. (2)Evaluate historical sources—such as essays, songs' lyrics, music videos, feature films, and documentary movies—to explain how popular music in Latin America has figured so prominently in struggles over hegemony, socio-economic mobility, and urbanization; and worked as means of protests and revolt, and as symbolic currency in international negotiations involving issues of representation, legitimacy, and self-determination. (3)Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the most relevant concepts and theories used by scholars and critics when analyzing the past and present of popular music in Latin America. (4)Analyze critically

Evaluation Method

Response papers, Canvas discussion forum, final research project.

Class Notes

Concentration: Americas

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Historical Studies Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area

Associated Classes

DIS - University Hall 218: Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-343: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - University Hall 118: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM