American Studies 341 - SYMPOSIUM IN AMERICAN STUDIES

Topics course. Limited to senior majors. Since the 1960s, "The Underground," has been imagined as a privileged space of artistic innovation, political radicalism and authentic selfhood. Even today, hip hop and punk musicians describe themselves as "underground" if they wish to emphasize their integrity; it is the place to go to keep things real, to avoid "selling out," to evade being co-opted by the dominant order. But what does it mean to be underground? Where did the underground idea come from? What happens to politics and art when it is imagined as an "underground" (as opposed to mainstream) activity? This course offers a critical history of "The Underground" from the underground slave railroad of the early 19th century to the punk and hip hop undergrounds of our own time. Permission of the instructor required

Topic: American Undergrounds. Instructor permission. Limited to AMS majors Limited to seniors