230495 Sonic ‘America‘: Music/Documentary, Music/Film, Music/Poetry, Music/Life Writing/Music Journalism (BS) (WiSe 2022/2023)

This seminar explores music in the context of cultural studies. Different from musicological studies, our approach explores music in its relational dimension to people, politics, culture, and other art forms. Accordingly, we look at the meaning of music festivals, music journalism, and music’s presence in artistic genres like film and video to explore how music reflects and shapes resistance, border discourses, and transnational exchange. In another step, we investigate music in the context of cultural and social movements. We address issues of youth culture, protest culture, diaspora culture, subculture, and counterculture analyzing music lyrics by Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Beyonce among others. In a third step, we look at music documentaries and music museums to explore how music is remembered in the public discourse and national historiographies and how music functions as myth-making medium. Finally, we look at music as a form of life writing analyzing media like Western Stars and Renegades: Born in the USA. The focus will be on the U.S., the Caribbean, and Mexico. The course will be taught in English and Spanish, so students participating need to have sufficient language skills in both languages. The course takes a multi-media approach and is project-oriented. In addition to our class meetings students can expect an additional project task to be submitted at the end of the semester.