How
can the study of a society’s music help us better understand
its past and present? Traveling from the shores of the Caribbean
Sea to Morocco’s Atlas mountains, this course will delve
deeply into three cultures and the music they produced. In uncovering
the pasts of these societies, students will analyze musical forms
and historical documents in order to underand the relationshop
between music and history.
Course
Objectives:
• Students will be able to analyze the formal elements of the
particular styles of music addressed by the course
• Students will be able to analyze the musical styles addressed
by the course in their larger historical and social contexts
• Student will be able to use music as a form of historical
and anthropological evidence
• Students will be able to demonstrate a familiarity with the
major events and shaping phenomena of three historical periods: (1)
the Trujillo years in the Dominican Republic, (2) the Trans-Atlantic
Slave Trade, 1441-1808, and (3) Medieval Spain and Morocco.
• Students will be able to employ textual evidence in support
of an analytic argument
• Students will be able to craft college-level, thesis-driven
essays in a clear and comprehensible style
Required
readings: All readings for this course are on-line, either
on blackboard or directly from our website. In short, you don’t
have to buy any books for this course. YOU MUST, HOWEVER BRING A PRINT-OUT
OF THE READINGS TO CLASS.
Required
DVDs: you will be watching two films outside of class. Both
films are available for free at the reserve desk of the John Jay library.
You may want, however, to watch these materials at home as you will
be doing homework with both films. The first film, Adangaaman,
is available through Netflix
instant download (it is NOT available through any local blockbuster,
however). The second film, Cities of Light, is NOT available
through Netflix. We will, however, make copies available to you for
the cost of reproduction.
Course Drop Date: The last day that a student can
withdraw from the course without academic penalty is Wednesday, April
7, 2010.
Contact information for ISP Admin and Writing Tutors:
Deadlines:
All assignments, unless otherwise noted, are due through Blackboard
(details provided in class) at 11:30 pm on the Wednesday before class.
Extensions: We never want you to have to choose between
doing well in this class and doing well in another course. So, if
you give us a week’s notice, you will likely be able to receive
an extension on a portion of an upcoming assignment. You will have
to do some part of the assignment, however. Finally, you may receive
only ONE such extension during the semester.
FOR MORE DETAILS
ON POLICIES, INCLUDING ATTENDANCE, SEE HERE
ASSIGNMENTS
ARE LISTED ON THE DAY ASSIGNED, NOT THE DAY DUE!
UNIT I: Merengue, Dominican Identity, and
Racialized Violence against Haitians in the Dominican Republic
January 28th:
In class: introductions, class policies, signing
of contracts. Review of Blackboard.
Assigned today, due next Wednesday 2/03 at 11:30 pm:
(A) read on-line music style guide for Merengue Tipico/Orquesta
(on blackboard) (B) Listen to accompanying tracks (on blackboard)
, and (C) exercise on music style guide (click here).
February
4th:
In class: discussion of musical forms,
analysis of tracks in class; introduction to answering reading questions
Assigned
today, due next Wednesday 2/10 at 11:30 pm through blackboard:
read Julie Sellers, Merengue and Dominican Identity:Music
as National Unifier, pp. 6-7, 27-40, 81-101 (on blackboard) and
reading questions.
Optional Viewing:
Race and Racism in the Dominican Republic
February
11th:
In-class:
Discuss Sellers, History of Merengue;
listen to representative tracks in class. Introduce claim/evidence/warrant.
Assigned
today, due Wedneday 2/24 at 11:30 pm through blackboard:
a) 7-page reading
reviewing class discussion of claim/evidence/warrant (on website here,
or as pdf on blackboard)
This assignment
introduces a concept we will be using throughout the semester and
so this homework is worth 12% of your semester grade.
February
18th:
No class
February
25th:
In-class: Introductory discussion on Nial Ferguson
reading and Nationalism. Watch Nial Fergusson’s War of the
World (available at the library if you miss class)
Assigned today, due Wednesday 3/03 at 11:30 pm through blackboard:
read selected portions (totaling 15 pages) from the introduction
to Nial Ferguson’s War of the World (blackboard) (B)
reading questions on Fergusson
Prof. Umbach’s
translations of Ferguson’s professor-speak (here)
will make the reading easier.
excerpt from
War of the World
March 4th:
NOTE
DIFFERENT DEADLINES FOR THE TWO HOMEWORKS (A&B) THIS WEEK.
read pp. 44-51,
102-105 Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle
for Hispaniola (blackboard)
A. Due Monday 3/08 at 11:30 PM through blackboard:Evidence chart using Why the
Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
and Sellers, Merengue and Dominican Identity:Music
as National Unifier
This chart will
both help organize your evidence for the paper (see below) and serve
as an outline for that essay. (30% of your grade for this assignment)
B.Due Thursday
3/11 at 11:30 AM (yes, morning) through blackboard: Essay
applying Ferguson’s explanation for violence in the 20th Century
to the 1937 genocide of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. (70% of
your grade for this assignment)
UNIT
II : Brazilian Music and the Slave Trade
March 11th:
In-class: discuss essays
Assigned today, due next Wednesday 3/17 at 11:30 pm: (A)
Read on-line music style guide to Afro-Brazilian music and listen
to examples (on blackboard) (B) Read: Carvalho, “Black Music
of All Colors: The Construction of Black Ethnicity in Ritual and Popular
Genres of Afro-Brazilian Music, ” pp. 187-205 (C) Questions
on reading and style guide.
March
18th:
In Class: Introduction to slave trade. Exploring
African musical elements.
Assigned today, due next Wednesday 3/25 at 11:30 pm:
A: (all readings on blackboard): Afro-Brazilian
music style guide II; read Gilbert, Africa in World History,
pp. 121 - 133; David Brion Davis, Challenging the Boundaries of
Slavery, pp. 17 - 19; Thornton, The Birth of the Atlantic
World, pp. 36-39, Tignor, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart,
131-136, Perrone, “Gilberto Gil,” excerpts (pgs.
xix-top of xx, 91-94, 121-top125, bottom128) (On Blackboard)
(total pages minus maps: 30)
Assigned today, due next Wednesday 4/07 at 11:30 pm:
(A) watch the film Adangaman outside of class(Netflix or
Library) (B) outline for mock film review (details here)
assessing the historical accuracy of Adangaman, identifying
all of the evidence you plan to use in the essay and your various
claims. Be sure that your provide the
exact quotations you plan to use.
SPRING
BREAK (wahoo!)
April
8th:
In-Class: Discuss Film Essay; in-class activity comparing/contrasting
persistence of African elements in Merengue and Afro-Brazilian musics.
Assigned today, due Wednesday 4/14 at 11:30 pm: write
two to three page mock film review (details here)
assessing the historical accuracy of Adangaman
Note
Regarding the Grading of This Paper: When you submit your
paper, you will be asked to submit what grade you think the paper
merits and a brief explanation of why, using the grading rubric we
provided you as a guide. If the grade you’ve given yourself
is within 6 percentage points of the grade we would have given the
essay (for example, you thought the paper was an 88/100 and we thought
it was an 82/100), then the grade you gave for your own paper will
be the grade that stands. If, however, the grade you gave for the
paper is more than 6 percentages points above the grade we would have
given it, we will ask you to come to office hours to review our feedback
on your essay. You will also be asked you to revise the paper before
April 8th at 11:30 pm for a new grade.
Extra-Credit:
Prof. Umbach’s audio tour of the African Art collection at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. The tour and relevant maps of museum can
be found here. To get the full 8% extra
credit for your semester grade, you will need to take the quick artifacts
quiz given in the last 15 minutes of the April 15th class.
UNIT III: Moroccan Ala/Baqqashot Music
April 15th:
(class will end
15 minutes early today to accommodate those taking the quiz on the
African Art collection)
Assigned today, due next Wednesday April 21st at 11:30 pm:
watch Cities of Light documentary (JJ library reserve desk
or purchase reproduction from us) on al-Andalus (running time: 2 hours)
at home (B) questions on documentary
(C) prepare for quiz from the video. (D) Read: Touma (1996) pp. 68-83
(on Blackboard) (E) Touma questions/activity (passed out in class)
excerpt from
Cities of Light
April 22nd:
In Class: quiz from Cities of Light documentary
(map questions and vocab terms here). Music and poetics of al-Andalus,
Introduction to Ala music.
Assigned
today, due next Wednesday 4/28 at 11:30 pm: (A) read Shiloah
(1992) on "Baqqashot" (blackboard). (B) Listen to accompanying
tracks, and (C) read excerpts from intro
and chapter 1 of G.M. Fredrickson’s discussion of Jews and
the birth of European racism in Medieval Spain from Racism: A
Short History and (E) questions on Fredrickson
and Shiloah reading
April
29th:
In class:
graded, in-class activity examining changing anti-Jewish laws and
identify evidence for optional extra-credit paper
Assigned
today, due next Wednesday 5/05 at 11:30 pm:(A) identify
two sources/pieces of evidence for your style guide B) Turn in two
tracks for compiliation CD.
Assigned
today, due next Wednesday 5/12 at 11:30 pm: (A) Construct
music style guide. (C) Turino (2004), pp. 17-19 “Identity and
Arts in Diaspora Communities.”
In class: discussion of final poster session on your
own style guide
May 13:
In-class poster session of music style guides
ASSIGNMENTS
ARE LISTED ON THE DAY ASSIGNED, NOT THE DAY DUE!
April
29th: