ancarrol /angelaminicourse

DANM203 MINICOURSE

• Resistance Still Resides On Our Tongues: The Transformation of Black Music Through Commoditization Post Emancipation to the Present*

Week 1- The Blues: Technology and Community Migrations-

• Jones, Le Roi?. …Primitive Blues and Primitive Jazz
• Baraka, Amiri. The Changing Same (R&B and New Black Music)
• Listen to musical compositions by Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci.

Week 2- This is Real B! Expression, Meaning, and Representation-

• Rose, Tricia. Voices from the Margins- Rap Music and Contemporary Black Cultural Production (chapter 1)
• Robinson, Deanna Campbell. Music & Meaning (24-29)
• Watch Beyond Beats and Rhymes- Byron Hurt

Week 3- What’s Really Good?: Contemporary Minstrelsy & Satire as Modes of Resistance-

• McGruder?, Aaron. A Right to Be Hostile
• Lhamon, W. T. Raising Cain: Blackface performance from Jim Crow to Hip Hop
• View Dave Chappelle Show: The Race Elections
• View The Boondocks: What if Martin Luther King Jr….

Week 4- We Shall Overcome… Right? Modes and Questions of Identity Reclamation-

• Hooks, Bell. A Revolution of Values (185-200)
• Hartman, Saidiya. Lose Your Mother (84-109)

Activities/Assignments-

Music/Video analysis on top ten charts. Students are assigned to research songs that are currently or have been at one point, at the top of the Billboard Music charts. This research should be framed with several questions in mind; What are reoccurring themes in the music at the top? Which record companies are marketing these records? What are the characteristics/genre of the performers? Using Youtube, or MTV/BET/VH1 (if cable access is available, find one of the music video for one of the songs and write a shot analysis on that video. The shot analysis should be accompanied with a short essay, comparing and contrasting the selected video with other popular music. Are there reoccurring themes in the video? What were initial reactions to the video? What were reactions to the video after repeatedly watching it to render the shot analysis? Theories and vocabulary from the readings should be utilized in this analysis. The paper should be 6-8 pages in length and include citation.

Essay. Throughout the course students have been encouraged to think critically about the music they consume, and the power dynamics at play in the production and distribution of that music. Using the readings, movies, and audio presented in class, and researched in your first assignment write an essay about how the black music shapes your perspectives about black people. Before taking in the readings, were you aware of the historical commoditization of African experiences in the Americas? How have your views changed/remained regarding American popular music? How have your views about identity structure through the media changed/remained during the course? This essay should be 8-10 pages in length, and use in class and outside research to argue your points.