Black Studies 204 - African Popular Music

Spring
2016
01
4.00
Olabode Omojola
TTH 11:30AM-12:50PM
Amherst College
BLST-204-01-1516S
FROS 211
oomojola@amherst.edu
MUSI-105-01,BLST-204-01

(Offered as BLST 204 [A] and MUSI 105.)   This course focuses on twentieth-century African popular music; it examines musical genres from different parts of the continent, investigating their relationships to the historical, political and social dynamics of their respective national and regional origins. Regional examples like highlife, soukous, chimurenga, and afro-beate will be studied to assess the significance of  popular music as a creative response to social and political developments in colonial and postcolonial Africa. The course also discusses the growth of hip-hop music in selected countries by exploring how indigenous cultural tropes have provided the basis for its local appropriation. Themes explored in this course include the use of music in the construction of identity; popular music, politics and resistance; the interaction of local and global elements; and the political significance of musical nostalgia.


Limited to 30 students.  Spring semester.  Five College Professor Omojola.

Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.