Music, Memory and the History of the United States 
Spring, 2002

Instructor: Dr. William Kenney
Office: 305 Bowman Hall/
Phone: (330) 672-9404
e-mail: wkenney@kent.edu

Course Meets:    Wednesday 6:00 - 7:40 pm, Van Campen Hall (Honors College) in library



 
 

Date Course Outline   Assignment Due Dates
01/16 Introduction and Aims of the Course
01/23 Library Tour, Tutorial: CD-Rom and On-Line Search Techniques
01/30 Following Lines of Evidence
02/06 What  Does Music Represent in History?
02/13 How Does Music Interact with Migrations? Paper Topic with 5 References Due
02/20 How Does Music Help to Soothe Racial Crises? LSM Study Plan Due
02/27 No Class
03/06 Spirituals, Blues, Jazz, and Cultural Memory  Outline & Expanded Ref. List Due
Links to jazz recordings  
03/13 Music & National Identity on the Mississippi Riverboats  
Links to photos of riverboats  
03/20 MidTerm Exam  
04/03 The Rise of Recorded Music in the United States First Submission of Paper
04/10 Circles of Resonance: Popular Music & Subcultures  
04/17 The Depression, WWII, & Crisis in Popular Music Return of First Submissions
04/24 Music Recordings & American Memory   
05/01 Class Presentations Final Submission of Paper
05/08 Final Exam 5:45-8:00 pm, Wednesday
Grades
Your grade will be based on your class participation, and your performance in your exams and term paper.  There will be one term paper, a midterm, and a final exam.  Both exams will be open book essay tests, and will be held in the classroom.  The final exam is comprehensive. 

 Term Paper  =  50% 
 Midterm Exam =  15% 
 Final Exam  =  15% 
 Class Participation =  20% 
 TOTAL  = 100% 
Texts 
Due to the inter-disciplinary nature of the course, no textbook will be required. 
Students are strongly encouraged to buy the short but concise Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (any paperback edition, usually available in used copies at KSU bookstore). This 90 page book will change your intellectual life! Several important journal articles/book chapters will be required reading, made available to students for the price of the photocopy. 
Required Readings: 
Homi K. Bhabha, "Unpacking My Library . . . Again," in Chambers & Curti, eds., The Post- Colonial  Question: Common Skies, Divided Horizons. London, Eng.: Routledge, 1996. 

Lawrence W. Levine, High Brow, Low Brow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988, Intro., ch. 1. 

James Clifford, Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997. Prologue, ch. 1 

Travis A. Jackson, "Jazz Performance as Ritual: the Blues Aesthetic and the African Diaspora,"in Ingrid Monson, ed., The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective. N.Y.: Garland, 2000, ch.2 
 
Jazz Links
Shanty Boat On The
Mississippi
(Terry Shand / Jimmy Eaton)

Lazy 'Sippi Steamer
(Louis Armstrong /Selman / Russell) 

Lazy River
(Sidney Arodin / Hoagy Carmichael)

Home
(Van Steeden / Clarkson)

St. Louis Blues
(W.C. Handy)

Son of the South
 

 Mississippi Basin

Dusky Stevedore

Mighty River

St. Louis Blues
(W.C. Handy)

Do You Know What It Means

Where the Blues Were Born
 
 
 
 

 
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Photographs
Sidney St. Paul John Streckfus and Sons Henry "Red " Allen, Louis Armstrong and Zutty Singleton
Fate Marable's Metropolitan Jaz-E-Saz Orchestra Fate Marable's Metropolitan Jaz-E-Saz Orchestra 2 The Black Mississippi (St. Louis Argus) Jesse J. Johnson (St. Louis Argus)
     
S.S. Admiral  1920's Passengers   1920's Passengers 2  
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