ETHN 214 - Popular Music and U.S. Urban Identities

FC CNDP, DDHU

4 credits
This course explores the role of music in shaping urban landscapes of U.S. cities from an ethnomusicological perspective. The course emphasizes the examination of the role of music in shaping local histories and the role of music as an economic stimulator, a political motivator, and marker of city identity. This class is organized geographically around four U.S. cities: Cleveland, Ohio; New York, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; and Seattle, Washington. This course gives you the critical tools necessary to survey urban landscapes through their musical histories such that you will understand how music works to produce and affirm identities both within the city itself and in conjunction with other identities in the U.S. After learning the methodologies of ethnomusicology, you will use them yourself by designing a research project on the musical history of a city of your choice. This course is designed to challenge the ways you think about American identities and music.

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