Popular Music of the Hispanic Caribbean

Fall 2023

[Online Course]

Hugo R. Viera-Vargas, PhD
Associate Professor of Caribbean and Latin America Studies and Music
New College of Florida

Class overview

Music is of great social importance as a result of its inherent relationship with its context of enunciation. In this sense, musical expressions do not develop in a contextual vacuum but correspond to the ideological structures in which they are generated and manifested. Although the Hispanic Caribbean will be broadly defined, the course will focus on the popular musical genres from the island nations of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. How did the historical and social contexts contribute to the creation of the widely known Cuban son or the Dominican merengue? How the genre of salsa or, more recently, Reggaeton, became transnational musical phenomena? What is the relationship between race and music in the Spanish Caribbean? How do people in the Spanish Caribbean use music to forge their identities? Could we consider the musical cultures of these islands as part of the music of the African Diaspora? Through a careful examination of key works from a range of intellectuals and disciplines, the course will provide students with the tools to think critically about the socio-historical, economic, political, cultural, and transnational contexts that influence the formation of diverse musical expressions in the Hispanic Caribbean.

There are no pre-requisites.

Explore the Music

Objectives:

Identify the diversity of popular music of the Hispanic Caribbean
Analyze the social and historical contexts of popular music in the Hispanic Caribbean
Value the global influence of popular music of the Spanish Caribbean

Course Attributes:

CYC All
CYC Breadth Diverse Perspective
Liberal Arts Curriculum
Humanities Liberal Arts Curriculum
Diverse perspective

First Year Appropriated
Humanities
Music
Caribbean & Latin American Studies
Online Course

Required Texts

Moore, Robin D. 2010. Music in the Hispanic Caribbean: experiencing music, expressing culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

PhD Indiana University, BloomingtonMA Indiana University, BloomingtonBA Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

About Me

I earned a Ph.D. in Latin American History from Indiana University, and currently, I am an Associate Professor of Caribbean and Latin American Studies and Music at New College of Florida. Between 2008 and 2018, I taught at the Universidad Metropolitana and the University of Puerto Rico. In 2018 I was the researcher for the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico music special, Más de un siglo: 125 años de música en Puerto Rico.

My research and teaching focus on the intersection of race, gender, colonialism, and musical expressions in Puerto Rican and Caribbean societies. I have published my work in Latin American Music Review, Centro: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Musiké, Caribbean Studies, and Revista Cruce.

Selected Publications

"Listening to Our New Possessions: Music and Imperial Writings on Puerto Rico and Cuba, 1898–1930" in Rivera Vega, Carmen Haydée & Duany, Jorge Two Wings of the Same Bird: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Puerto Rican and Cuban-American History, Literature, and Culture, The University of Florida Press, 202380
"Representaciones sonoras: masculinidades y música popular en la colección de John Alden Mason, 1914- 1915". El Centro Journal, Volume XXXII • Number II • Summer 2020.
“En defensa de la danza puertorriqueña: música e identidad en Puerto Rico en la tercera década del siglo XX”, Revista Cruce (UAGM), February 2020.
“A son de clave: la dimensión afro-diaspórica de la puertorriqueñidad, 1929-1940” in Latin American Music Review Fall/Winter, 2017, 38:1
“La colección John Alden Mason (1914-1915): Una documentación sonora para el estudio de la historia cultural y musical puertorriqueña” in Musiké, 2015.Vol. 4, núm. 1.
“La colección John Alden Mason: una documentación sonora para la historia de Puerto Rico” in Caribbean Studies, Vol. 36, No.2., (2009) ,161-168.