Pop Music Revolutionaries in Modern Japan
CEAS 285
Fall 2020 not offered
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This course addresses topics in popular music expression in modern and contemporary Japan, and considers trends and topics in modern Japanese society through the lens of different forms of popular music. It pays particular attention to instances of musical expression that can be understood as critical in nature, and addresses musical responses to moments of crisis, upheaval, and precarity in modern Japan. It also emphasizes the work of artists who have been at the forefront of various developments in Japan's popular music world. Our aim, in short, is to understand not only the songs and artists themselves, but also the historical, social, and political contexts within which they were produced. The course will thus approach music not merely as an abstracted object of study/analysis, but as a medium by which we might both expand our understandings of modern and contemporary Japan, and critique and build upon the discipline of area studies, as well. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CEAS |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CEAS-MN)(CEAS)(CEAS-Lit&Cult) |
Major Readings:
Bourdaghs, Michael, "Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical Pre-History of J-Pop."
Other text(s) to be determined. In addition to the assigned texts, students will be assigned book chapters, literary selections, and other texts, as well as secondary-source readings designed to develop contextual understandings of the questions raised by the course. These will be made available via Moode and/or the Wesleyan course reserve system. Students are responsible for all readings, as well as for any listening and/or viewing tasks that may be assigned. Refer to course syllabus for comprehensive list of materials to be covered.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Reflection/reaction papers, in-class presentation, final project proposal |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
All lyrics and textual materials will be provided in English translation. No prior knowledge of Japanese language, Japanese culture, or musicology/ethnomusicology is necessary. |
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