Baby Got Back: Embodiment, Gender, and Sexuality in Black Music
SOC 308
Fall 2016
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01
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This multimedia course uses a sociocultural approach to explore how black bodies continue to be sized, classed, sexed, and gendered through black musical expression. We will examine black music as a cultural object, both embedded in and responsible for steering national cultures, to argue that black music is indeed a lens through which to examine the struggles, contradictions, and triumphs of black peoples in the U.S. and abroad. Connecting theoretical frameworks of race, embodiment, socioeconomic status, gender, and sexuality with: (1) visual cultures of black bodies in motion (stemming from minstrelsy and chitlin' circuits to musicals and music videos) and (2) a variety of songs written, produced, and/or performed by black musicians (that include but are not limited to: the blues, jazz, rock and roll, rhythm & blues, soul, afrobeat, hip hop, dancehall, pop, soca, hip life, and reggaeton), this class will seek to interrogate how black music creates, replicates, regulates, packages, and distributes identity through a paradigm of production and consumption. We will discuss topics such as commodification, resistance, and representation while listening to artists like Nina Simone, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Las Crudas, former 2 Live Crew member Luke, Biggie Smalls, Mr. Killa, De La Soul, Lil' Kim, Outkast, Jill Scott, Ayisoba, Big Freedia, Alison Hinds, Nicki Minaj, and Fela Kuti to attempt to understand exactly what type of power (and magic) that music possesses. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS SOC |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: SOC151 |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (SOC) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., RACE MUSIC: BLACK CULTURES FROM BEBOP TO HIP-HOP
Simon Malpas and Paul Wake, eds., THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO CRITICAL AND CULTURAL THEORY
Tricia Rose, BLACK NOISE: RAP MUSIC AND BLACK CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA
Shana Redmond, ANTHEM: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE SOUND OF SOLIDARITY IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
Patricia Hill Collins, BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT: KNOWLEDGE, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THE POLITICS OF EMPOWERMENT
William Roy and Timothy Dowd, "WHAT IS SOCIOLOGICAL ABOUT MUSIC?"
Richard Iton, IN SEARCH OF THE BLACK FANTASTIC
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Examinations and Assignments:
Four response papers, Midterm Examination, Group Presentation, Final Project |
| Instructor(s): Patterson-Faye,Courtney Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: FISK414; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 5 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 22 | 1st Ranked: 8 | 2nd Ranked: 3 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 2 | Unranked: 8 |
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