From Yoruban drumming to rumba, from jazz to hip-hop to dancehall,
this course examines the sociocultural production of a range of
musical forms emerging from within the African diaspora. It is focally
concerned with the links between musical cultural production and
social identity. We will examine these links in theoretical,
ethnomusicological and anthropological analytical terms, focusing on
three kinds of issues. The first revolves around identifying the basic
features of these musical forms, and the ways in which ethnographic
analysis of their performance sheds light on the life of the source
communities. A second set of issues pertains to the relation of these
musical forms to the societies-at-large in which the source
communities are located. For instance, how does the negotiation of
racial and ethnic identity among the primarily African-American,
Caribbean, and Hispanic practitioners of hip-hop in 1970s New York
relate to a more fully “multicultural” “hip-hop nation” today? What
issues of identity and authenticity, consumption and power might such
an analysis invoke? The third set of issues explored in this course
pertains to the global spread of these musical forms not only within
but also beyond the African diaspora- cum-West, including Russia, New
Zealand, Hawaii and Japan.