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SoSe 20: Music and Power

Jessica Gienow-Hecht, Esteban Buch

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ONLINE COURSE - Format: Due to precautions taken against CORVID-19, this colloquium is experimental and so is the syllabus. Sessions will conceivably take place in a virtual classroom for which each student will receive access to a virtual seminar room via an invitation and, if necessary, an access code and a password. If your standard browser (e.g. Safari) does not work, try a different one (e.g. Firefox). Sessions will vary with some consisting of research presentations while others focus on interactive work and methodology. Topic: This seminar examines the nexus between music and politics, notably hegemony and domination in Europe and the Americas. How did and does music translate into power and how did and does power affect the composition and rendition of music? Actors as diverse as Leonard Bernstein, Queen Latifah, and Gilberto Gil have used music to make political statements – what, exactly, does that mean? Borrowing from both history and musicology, the seminar seeks to answer these questions by examining the following research areas: music and the state; music and dictatorship; and music and democracy. Individual sessions will address national anthems, repression and torture, human rights and musical resistance, musical diplomacy, and the power of silence. Course: The seminar seeks to fulfill two objectives: first, we will spend a significant amount of time considering some of the most recent literature dedicated to the history and present experience of music and power. Both historians and musicologists have identified peculiar factors informing the interplay of music and politics. These include the role of civil war, nationalism, transnational actors, globalization, the music industry, and human rights. What cocktail, we’ll ask eventually, does it take to activate music as an instrument of power and power as a trajectory for music? Second, we will try to understand the mechanism of sound in the name of political action and discuss whether there are particular lessons for the impending future. Sessions: This class will convene in at total of six double sessions plus one extra session on April 21, 22, June 30, July 1, 7, and 8. This is a team-taught class orchestrated by musicologist Esteban Buch (L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, EHESS) and historian Jessica Gienow-Hecht from the JFKI. Requirements: Students from history, musicology, as well as the humanities and social sciences at large are very welcome. Musical samples are welcome. All students need a blackboard account. An active knowledge of musicology or scores is not required. Each session consists of a brief introduction by the instructors followed by an all-class discussion and a student presentation to be discussed in advance. For each individual class, all students will compose short précis (no longer than 5 lines) including a critical question relating to the respective reading. Précis need to be uploaded on Blackboard on Sunday evening prior to the class. At the end of the semester, students are required to compose a reflective think piece addressing a topic of their choice. Depending on the credit (Pass/Fail or Grade), the final paper is due on July 31 at midnight (5pp, 12pt. Times Roman, 1.5 space), or August 31 at midnight (20-25pp, 12pt. Times Roman, 1.5 space). Requirements: • Active class participation; engagement with the weekly readings and uploading of a weekly “précis” to Blackboard on Sunday, 8:30pm, prior to class. • Team work and composition of a synopsis of one session. • No more than two no-shows are acceptable. • Final presentation: 10 mins statement, last day of class, based on draft for final paper • Final paper: 5pp wrap-up paper due July 17 for Pass/Fail; 20-25pp term paper due August 23 for full credit (grade). close

Additional appointments

Tue, 2020-04-21 08:00 - 10:00

Lecturers:
Prof. Dr. Esteban Buch
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jessica Gienow-Hecht