UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This course analyzes the popular music representation of Indigenous and colonial histories in North America and beyond. The course asks why these particular stories are prevalent, whether these historical representations are accurate, and who is telling them and from what perspective. Students will explore the emergence and longevity of the heritage themes of American frontiers, colonialism, and ¿Indians¿ in North American, European, and other global musics; will trace the ways these themes and their underlying values are variably portrayed and contested as distant and tragic pasts versus deep legacies in contemporary identity and politics; and will be exposed to the role that Indigenous artists themselves have in (re)casting those stories. The course involves listening to rock, metal, hip hop, country, folk, avant garde, and pop music spanning many decades with analytical attention to lyrical content, language, instrumentation, and imagery. These artistic productions will be framed holistically and comparatively in the disciplinary realms of critical heritage studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, archaeology, and cultural anthropology.