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School of Music · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
The impact of popular music transcends its origins in composition, recorded artefact and concert performance. Popular music and politics are inextricably linked. In just a few decades, popular music has formed new cultural spaces, influenced politics and policy and empowered minority groups. Drawing upon extensive examples covered in the interdisciplinary field of popular music studies, this course explores how and why popular music is one of the most widespread, meaningful, and influential cultural phenomena in the world today. This course examines the political significance of popular music through a variety of cultural and contextual lens, such as aesthetics, textual analysis, race, gender, sexuality and materiality. Case study examples taken from broad genre spectra will illuminate and problematise the social impact of popular music and its relationships to global challenges.
Reflective Journals - totaling 1,500 words
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Group Research Presentation - 10min
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Research Essay (2,000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 3, 4
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 36 hours of contact over 12 weeks: a mixture of lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops; and b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.
Prescribed texts will be provided via the Wattle class page.