This module aims to familiarize students with a field of study that has been emerging from the intersection of ethnomusicology and popular music studies. Assigned readings, discussions, and assessments will seek to situate popular music in a global context while also attending to the ways that global processes impact local musical actors, scenes, and styles. Particular attention will be paid to ethnography and its application to the study of popular musics. Topics and cases to be explored included diasporic popular musics, musical migration, recording and production, global music industries, musical labour in the ‘creative industries’, local music scenes, urban contexts, and media theory. This course will also provide an orientation to relevant fields of study (including ethnomusicology and popular music studies) through an engagement with foundational disciplinary texts as well as current debates.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Critically analyze debates or issues within the fields of ethnomusicology and popular music studies
Gain a wide knowledge of prior ethnographic approaches to the study of music
Demonstrate an ability to produce assessed work independently using appropriate resources, literature and techniques.
Conduct a deep analysis of works of global popular music, taking into account their social and cultural contexts
Assessment
31619-01 : 3,000 word research project : Coursework (90%)
31619-02 : Ten weekly reading responses : Coursework (10%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions
Assessment a) 1 x 3000-word research project (90%), b) 10 x weekly reading responses, written, 1500 words total (10%)
