Spring Semester 2002
10:45-Noon
T, Th
208
Bowman Hall
Professor
William Kenney
Office
Hours: 305 Bowman Hall
T,
Th 9:00-10:45 & by appointment
Introduction
to Cultural History, Culture Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Interdisciplinary
Studies, American Studies, Black Studies, Ethnic Studies, Woman Studies,
Gay & Lesbian Studies, Popular Music Studies . . . (and all those other
[historical] studies)
January
15, 17: Understanding the Conflicts between History & Popular Culture
Studies
--
the objectivity dilemma
--
debates over the political meanings of "nation," "culture," "man,"
"woman"
January
22, 24:-- the politics of culture
--
production, consumption, & criticism of culture
Read
& Discuss:
John Storey, Introduction to Cuture Studies and Popular Culture.
Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1998.
January
29, 31: Bringin' da Noise to American History
--
The Revolt Against Victorianism
--
Late 19th Century Immigration
February
5, 7-- Rise of Tin Pan Alley, Popular
Sheet Music, Ragtime and Jazz
--The
Legacies of Minstrelsy in 20th Century Popular Culture
Read&
Discuss: Lawrence
W. Levine, High Brow, Low Brow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy
in America (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988.
Visit:
Library of Congress American Memory Project at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/
Listen
to early jazz at: http://www.redhotjazz.com/band_body.html
Sample/Survey
Cover Art on Early Sheet Music:
http://www.lib.duke.edu/music/sheetmusic/collections.html
February
12, 14: Coming Through Slaughter: The Great Migration of African Americans
--Describing
the Migration from Rural South to Industrial North
--The Horror of White Racism in
1917
--Paper
Topic Statement with List of Sources Due
February
19, 21: The Impact of World War I on Race Relations
--
War and Unsettled Youth
-- Race and the Music Business
Read
& Discuss: James
Grossman, Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
February
26, 28: Examples of the Cultural History of Early Blues, Jazz & Country
--
How the Blues Got to Memphis
--
How Country Music Got to Bakersfield, Ca.
-- Why Louis Armstrong Always Talked about New Orleans
--
Louis Armstrong & Jazz Autobiographies
Read
& Discuss:
Louis Armstrong, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans, with a New Introduction
by Dan Morgenstern. New York.: DaCapo, 1986.
March
5, 7: New Trends in Music & Culture Theory: Music, Movement & the
"Space in Between"
--
Jacques Attali: Music and Sacrifice/Victor Turner: Crisis & Liminality
--
Paul Gilroy on the African Diaspora/ Homi Bhabha on Unpacking &
Repacking
Culture
--
3/7: Revised Paper Statement with Expanded List of Sources Due
March
12:--James Clifford on Travel and
Cultural Translation
Read
& Discuss: March
7: Homi Bhabha, "Unpacking My Library . . . Again," in Chambers & Curti,
eds.,
The Post-Colonial Question: Common Skies, Divided Horizons.
London, Eng.: Routledge, 1996, ch. 15
March
14:-- Midterm Examination March
19, 21: Jazz on the River: Music, Race & National Identity on the Mississippi --
Jazz and the Great Migration --
Jazz on the Riverboats Visit: http://www.tulane.edu/~lmiller/raeburn/rivboatintro.htm
March
25-31: Spring Recess
April
2-4: Jazz on the River Concluded
--Riverboat
Jazz, Jacques Attali & Homi Bhabha
--White
and Black Swans on the Mississippi
--
4/4: First Submission of Paper
Read
& Discuss:
April 4: David Chevan, "Riverboat Music from St. Louis and the Streckfus
Steamboat Line,"Black Music Research Journal 9,2 (Fall 1989), 153-180.
Visit: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~wkenney/introsyl01.html#jazzlinks
April
9,11: Music, and Memory in African American History
Collective
Memory & African American History
Recordings
and Collective Memory
April
16, 18:Pierre Nora and Les Lieux
de Memoire
Music
and Collective Memory
4/18:
Return of First Submissions
Read
& Discuss: Genevieve
Fabre & Robert O'Meally, eds., History and Memory in African American
Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
April
23, 25, 30. May 2: Student Class Presentations
Students
present a 10 minute summary of their Term Paper Hypotheses
5/1:
Final
Submission of Papers
May
7 @ 12:45 p.m.: Final Examination
Grades:
This
course emphasizes critical reading, writing and classroom discussion of
assigned materials chosen to illustrate the intellectual and artistic possibilities
in culture and popular culture studies. 25% of the course grade will be
based upon class participation. In order to strengthen the reading/discussion
process, each student will lead the class discussion of a required reading,
offering his/her understanding of the main hypotheses, evidence, and critical
evaluation. In addition, all students are asked to prepare each class reading
and to participate in the class analysis. Thirdly, each student will prepare
a 10 to 15 minute oral presentation his term paper hypothesis. Given the
importance accorded to class participation, regular attendance is required.
Official medical excuses will be accepted.
For
graduate students, grades will be calculated as follows: 15% Midterm exam,
15% Final Exam, 45% Term Paper, 25% Class Participation
For
undergraduate Students, grades will be calculated as follows: 25% Midterm
Exam, 25% Final Exam, 25% Term Paper, 25% Class Participation.
Term
Papers:
Writing
lucidly is an essential ingredient in advanced historical study. All students
must write a term paper of approximately 10 - 15 pages that explores an
important dimension of one of the major themes of the course. Those themes
are: Migration, Music, Collective Memory, Blues and Jazz, Rivers in American
Culture, and Louis Armstrong. One need not explore all or even more than
one of these themes. If you feel comfortable working with a musical subject,
you are encouraged to do so. If not, pick a non-musical theme. Whatever
theme you choose, be sure to interpret it through the concepts of one or
more of the theoretical works featured in this course.
If
you do not yet feel confident working with theoretical concepts, focus
on some major factual dimension within the historical period considered
in the course. Read all major works on that person, movement, or event
and be sure to discuss your interpretation with the instructor before writing
the final draft of your paper.
Please
be sure to pursue both library/archival research and internet research
when preparing your term paper. Special problems with the placing of historical
documentation on line prevent us all from depending solely on the internet.
Suggested
Topics:
Analysis
of Selected Themes in the Autobiographies of Jazz/Blues Musicians
Women
in Jazz &/or Blues from Ma Rainey & Billie Holiday to Abbie Lincoln
Gays,
Lesbians & Sexual Ambiguity in Jazz &/or Blues: Billy Tipton
Analysis
of the Great Jazz Photographers
Jazz/Blues
on the Internet: Analysis of the Best/Worst Sites & Why
Krin
Gabbard & Jazz in the Movies
Historiography
of Books that Discuss "Jazz in American Culture"
Jazz
in Major Cities Compared
Jazz
Abroad
Jews
and Jazz
Music
& the Historiography of the Great Migration
Nightclub
Culture in the 1920/30s
Jazz
and the White Critics
Jazz
and Black Nationalism
Bix
Beiderbecke & Cultural Analysis of White Jazz Icons
The
Mediation of Blues/Jazz in the Recording Industry
Copyright
Law in Jazz and Popular Music
A
Cultural Critique of Jazz/Blues Videos
A
Critique of Jazz/Blues Novels & Short Stories
Jazz
in the Harlem Renaissance
Term
Paper Schedule:
February
14: Paper Topic Statement with List of Sources
March
7: Paper Outline and Expanded List of Sources
April
4:First Submission of Paper
April
18: Return of First Submissions
May
1: Final Submission of Paper