The Politics of Contemporary Black Popular Music (2023)

Fall 2023                                                                                 Professor Weheliye

T/Th 2:30-3:50PM                                                                         Office Hours: T/Th 1:00-2:00PM

Salomon Center 202                                                              George St 155 Rm 205                                                                                        

The Politics of Contemporary Black Popular Music

This course provides an introduction to the history of black popular music since the1970s, focusing primarily on sound cultures from the US, Caribbean, and Western Europe. We will begin by studying the mixing techniques developed in Reggae (dub), Disco (remix), and Hip-Hop (scratching and sampling) to discuss how they have shaped popular music since the1970s. We will then survey these genres as well as the histories of R&B, House and Techno and some of their many offshoots (Jungle & Afrobeats, for instance) have developed over the last 30 years to ask how popular music functions as one of the main channels of communication among the cultures of the African diaspora. Overall, this course investigates the aesthetic, political, cultural, and economic dimensions of black popular music, paying particular attention to questions of gender, sexuality, class, nation, language, and technology. 

Requirements

      Requirements:

      *Regular attendance

      *Final multimedia group project and presentation

      *Two weekly blog posts/responses

      *In-class participation

      *Creating or editing three Wikipedia entries related to the course topic

* The course requires about 9 hours per week of reading and watching films outside of class time (39 hours class time over the course of a 13-week semester), and about 30 hours on the final project)

Grading

Multimedia Project/Presentation                                                                40%

Blog posts/responses                                                                                  25%

Participation, Attendance,                                                                          25%

Wikipedia Entries                                                                                       10%

Discussion is a key component of this course, as is leading a class discussion on the course blog. You are required to develop opinions and thoughts about the readings, and to share them with others.

      Rules

*Laptops, cell phones, and other mobile devices may be used for class related activities.

*You are required to bring reading materials to class, either in hard copy or electronic form.

*Attendance is mandatory. If you miss three sessions without medical or serious reason, you will earn no credit for the course.

*In-class/online behavior should be based on mutual respect. I encourage and appreciate active, informed, and critical interchanges during our discussions, but these should be conducted in a manner that is considerate of others. This means that we should not use discriminatory and non-inclusive language whenever possible, even if we encounter this language in some of the materials on the syllabus. If you are unsure about using any particular terms, you should ask about them.

*Late submissions of any assignment or blog post will not be accepted, except under acceptable documented circumstances such as the following:

      • Illness or injury when the student is unable to attend class

      • Death of a family member

      • Religious observance where the nature of the observance prevents the student from

      attending class

      • Participation in university activities at the request of university authorities (e.g.,

      Intercollegiate Athletics, Forensics Team, Dance Company, etc.)

      • Compelling verifiable circumstances beyond the control of the student

Accessibility and Accommodations:

Brown University is committed to full inclusion of all students. Please inform me early in the term if you may require accommodations or modification of any of course procedures. You may speak with me after class, during office hours, or by appointment. If you need accommodations around online learning or in classroom accommodations, please be sure to reach out to Student Accessibility Services (SAS) for their assistance (sas@brown.edu, 401-863-9588). Undergraduates in need of short-term academic advice or support can contact an academic dean in the College by emailing college@brown.edu.

Required Texts:

All materials are available through Canvas. All the films can be accessed through the links on the syllabus.

Expenses and Financial Concerns: The estimated course materials cost for this course are $0 and therefore less than $50.

Students  with concerns about the non-tuition cost(s) of a course at Brown may apply to the Dean of the College’s Academic Emergency Fund to determine options for financing these costs, while ensuring their privacy. The Fund can be found in the Emergency, Curricular & Co-curricular Gap (E-Gap) Funds in UFunds. More information is available at: http://brown.edu/go/egap. Students may also submit inquiries to egap-funds@brown.edu.

Academic Integrity:

“Academic achievement is evaluated on the basis of work that a student produces independently. A student who obtains credit for work, words, or ideas that are not the producers of their own effort is dishonest and in violation of Brown’s Academic Code. Such dishonesty undermines the integrity of academic standards of the University. Infringement of the Academic Code entails penalties ranging from reprimand to suspension, dismissal, or expulsion from the University.” (The Academic Code, 5).

Any violation of the above statement will be understood as an act of academic dishonesty and will be handled according to the policies detailed in Brown University’s Academic Code. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty may be result in a grade of N/C for this course as well as other penalties. Questions or concerns about academic integrity should be raised with the instructor prior to submitting an assignment.

Blog Posts

The class blog on the course Canvas site provides page a forum for discussion before and after our class sessions.

Each week you are required to contribute at least two substantive comments to one of the posts on the course blog. Each comment should reflect what you have learned from and think about the assigned class materials. Substantive responses consist of a paragraph that takes into account previous posts and assigned readings (200 words). These responses should focus on your classmates’ posts and the readings.

One time during the quarter, you will be required to write a substantive blog post (500-600 words). You will need to introduce the materials assigned for the session, provide links to secondary sources (blog posts, videos, etc.) that relate to the assigned materials, and post thought provoking discussion questions that show you have completed the reading and thought about the way the particular work fits into the larger themes of the course.

Your substantive blog posts should be posted no later than 24 hours before the class session during which we will discuss the assigned materials. Your responses to your classmates’ posts need to be posted no later than12am the night before the class session. If no students are assigned to post for a session, all students are required to post shorter responses to the class materials no later than12am the night before the class session during which we will discuss the assigned materials.

You are also encouraged to respond in a less formal manner to the posts and comments of your classmates. These responses are in addition to your required comments. Here, you can comment less formally, provide links and/or quotes that illustrate or challenge another post, etc. Check the course blog often to engage with the ongoing discussion.

Guidelines for 500-600 Word Posts

**Introduce the materials assigned for the session.

**Provide links to secondary sources (text, video, image, music, etc.) that relate to the assigned materials. Briefly explain how these sources relate to the assigned materials.

**The following sites are good starting points: http://www.oxfordaasc.com.turing.library.northwestern.edu/, http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.whosampled.com/, http://rapgenius.com/

**Devise discussion questions that show you have completed the reading and have thought about the way the particular work fits into the larger themes of the course.

Here are some questions to consider:

*How do the assigned materials relate to the previous materials and discussions in the course?

*What new dimensions (historical facts, theoretical approaches, examples, etc.) do these materials add to our ongoing discussion?

*What is the author’s methodology, theoretical approach, disciplinary background, etc.? How does this shape his/her argument?

*Do these materials contradict and/or revise previous arguments? If so, how?

*How do these materials speak to current social, political, economic, and cultural conditions?

Semester Schedule

Thu, Sep 7, 2023                         Course Introduction

Tue, Sep 12, 2023                       Gilroy, The Black Atlantic Chapter 1

Thu, Sep 14, 2023                   Henriques, “Sonic Diaspora, Vibrations and Rhythm”

Tue, Sep 19, 2023                           Disco: Lawrence, “Disco & the Queering of the Dance Floor;” Dyer, “In Defence of Disco;” Shapiro, “Disco: Playing with a Different Sex;”

Film: The Joy of Disco

Thu, Sep 21, 2023                           Disco: Brewster & Broughton, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life pp.106-162.

Film: The Secret Disco Revolution

Tue, Sep 26, 2023                           Hip-Hop: Brewster & Broughton, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life pp.165-210; Schloss, “It's about Playing Records.”

Film: Wild Style

Thu, Sep 28, 2023                           Reggae: Brewster & Broughton, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life pp. 93-105; Eshun, “Inner Spatializing the Song”

Film: Dub Echoes

Tue, Oct 3, 2023                            Reggae: Veal, “Starship Africa;” Chude-Sokei, “Roots Diaspora and Possible Africas.”

Thu, Oct 5, 2023                            Hip-Hop/Reggae: Nyong’o, “Queer Assemblages” & Ellis, “Out and Bad: Toward a Queer Performance Hermeneutics in Jamaican Dancehall.”  

                                                         Film: Out and Bad: London's LGBT Dancehall Scene

Tue, Oct 10, 2023                          Hip-Hop: Clay, “Queer Women of Color and Hip-Hop Masculinity” & Shorey, Queer Rap is Not Queer Rap

                                                         Film: Hip Hop-Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Thu, Oct 12, 2023                      No Class

Tue, Oct 17, 2023                          R&B: Nelson, The Death of Rhythm & Blues (Chapter 7: Assimilation Triumphs, Retronuevo Rises); Harvey, The Quiet Storm

                                                         Film: Quiet Storm: How 1970s R&B changed late-night radio

Thu, Oct 19, 2023                          R&B: Bat, “What is Hypersoul?” Lindsey, “If You Look in My Life: Love, Hip-Hop Soul, and Contemporary African American Womanhood;” Brooks, “Itʼs Not Right But Itʼs Okay.”

Tue, Oct 24, 2023                          Britfunk & Lovers Rock: Strachan, “Britfunk: Black British Popular Music, Identity and the Recording Industry in the Early 1980s” & Palmer, “‘Men Cry Too’: Black Masculinities and the Feminisation of Lovers Rock in the UK.” 

Film:  Small Axe--Ep 2: Lover’s Rock (also available through Amazon Prime)

Thu, Oct 26, 2023                          House/Techno: Reynolds, “A Tale of Three Cities: Detroit Techno, Chicago House & New York Garage;” Brewster & Broughton, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life pp. 230-248.

Films: Pump Up the Volume & The Forgotten Black and Queer History of House Music

Tue, Oct 31, 2023                          Techno: Brewster & Broughton, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life pp. 250-262; Schaub, “Beyond the Hood? Detroit Techno, Underground Resistance, and African American Metropolitan Identity Politics.”

Film: High Tech Soul the Creation of Techno Music     

Thu, Nov 2, 2023                           No Class

Tue, Nov 7, 2023                           Jungle: Reynolds, “Roots ’n’ Future: Jungle Takes Over London” & Toppin, “Jungle: A Critical Intersectional History”

Films: Jungle Fever & History of the "Amen Break"

Thu, Nov 9, 2023                           (UK) Garage: Reynolds, “Two Steps Beyond: UK Garage and 2step.”

Film: Rewind 4ever: The History of UK Garage

Tue, Nov 14, 2023                         (UK) Garage: LeJarde, URL to IRL: Dirty Bird Is Building a Dance Music Community, One Beat at a Time, LeJarde, NYC Garage: Swami Sound Is Evolving Garage by Bringing It Back to Its Roots

Class Visit by gum.mp3: SoundCloud, Twitter, & Instagram

Thu, Nov 16, 2023                         Reggaetón: Rivera, Marshall, and Hernandez, “Introduction: Reggaetón’s Socio-Sonic Circuitry” & Dinzey-Flores, “De la Disco al Caserío: Urban Spatial Aesthetics and  Policy to the Beat  of Reggaetón”

Film: Straight Outta Puerto Rico: Reggaeton’s Rough Road to Glory

Tue, Nov 21, 2023                     No Class: Genocide Remembrance

Thu, Nov 23, 2023                         No Class: Genocide Remembrance

Tue, Nov 28, 2023                         Kuduro: Sheridan, “Fruity Batidas: The Technologies and Aesthetics of Kuduro”” & Young, “’Sound of Kuduro knocking at my door’: Kuduro Dance and the Poetics of Debility.”

Film: Off the Beaten Track

Thu, Nov 30, 2023                         Kwaito: Steingo, “The Experience of the Outside” & Livermon, “Jozi Nights the post-apartheid city, encounter, and mobility”

                                                         Films: Freedom Sounds: From Kwaito to AmaPiano

The Kwaito Story

Tue, Dec 5, 2023                            Afrobeats: Tucker, At the Crossroads of BETuesday Afrobeats, and #BlackLivesMatter; Hancox, It's Called Afrobeats and It's Taking Over London; Shipley, “Transnational circulation and digital fatigue in Ghana's Azonto dance craze;” Drake, Pop Music's Nigerian Future

Thu, Dec 7, 2023                            Final Presentations

Final Projects & Wikipedia entries due on Canvas: Tuesday, December 19 at noon