MUSI 109. Music, Race, and Politics: 19th- and 20th-Century Jazz in the US

This course employs the methodologies of historical-ethnomusicological, a sub-genre of ethnomusicology, to examine the role of race and politics in shaping the multifaceted genre known broadly as ‘jazz’ between the late 19^th and 20^th centuries. Students will use oral histories, biographies, sound and video recordings, original interviews (if possible), and other archival data to consider music and music-making during that time. These resources will enable students to think critically about the factors that contributed to the evolution of jazz over more than 100 years. They will consider the musicians, their music, and the public’s reception of both, in relation to the themes of respectability, gender, race, physical and non-physical forms of racial violence, nationalism, and citizenship. Students will complete short assignments designed to familiarize them with research ethics, archival research, close listening, data collection and analysis, and ethnography. Each of these assignments will contribute to the final project: an original ethnography based on course-specific music and musicians.
Prerequisite: One of:

MUSI 003 Intro to Jazz

MUSI 008B Music, Race, and Class

MUSI 006D Performing Resistance

MUSI 007 More Than a Drumline

GST 001 Intro to Gender and Sexuality Studies

HIST 007B Black America II

HIST 054 History of Gender and Racial Capitalism

BLST 040G/SOAN048G Between the “Is” and the “Ought” Black Social and Political Thought

BLST 015 Intro to BLST

BLST 059 The Black Freedom Struggle From Civil Rights to Hip Hop

SOCI 001 Foundations: Self, Culture, and Society

SOCI 007B Becoming American: Race and Nation in the US
Humanities.
1 credit.
Spring 2028 Stewart.
Catalog chapter: Music
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music

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