Political Rhetoric and Popular Music
Popular music sends powerful messages about the lives and values of the people who produced, performed, and consumed it. A close examination of musical practices over time and space can illuminate fundamental issues in American culture and history including the influence of technology, ideology, class, gender, and race on various genres of music -- jazz, swing, gospel, country, rhythm and blues, and rock; the multiple forms and influence of African American music; and songs and social movements, including the union, suffrage movement, and Civil Rights movements to what we have today.
Course Objective:
Process the relationship between social events and the culture that springs up around it as a voice for the voiceless in short papers and multimedia presentation.