American Studies 220 - COLLOQUIUM

Fall
2015
01
4.00
Steve Waksman
MW 01:10-02:30
Smith College
20803-F15
SAGE 15
swaksman@smith.edu
Topics course. Since the 1950s rock 'n' roll and other forms of youth-oriented popular music in the U.S. have embodied rebellion. Yet the rebellion that rock and other popular music styles like rap have offered has often been more available to men than women. Similarly, the sexual liberation associated with popular music in the rock and rap eras has been far more open to "straight" desires over "queer." This course examines how popular music from the 1950s to the present has been shaped by gender and sexuality, and the extent to which the music and its associated cultural practices have allowed artists and audiences to challenge gender and sexual norms, or alternately have served to reinforce those norms albeit with loud guitars and a heavy beat. Enrollment limited to 20.
Topic: Dance Music sex Romance: Popular Music, Gender and Sexuality from Rock to Rap.
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.