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Popular Music and Civic Identity in American History

Course Description

American popular music from the 1830s through the late twentieth century, focusing on popular music as an arena for debate about civic identity, involving an extraordinary range of Americans. Course topics and sub-themes include African- American, Euro-American, and Latin-American influences, the business of popular music, gender, and countercultures.

Athena Title

Popular Music American History

Prerequisite

Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of popular music in the U.S. by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of popular music shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race and ethnicity, labor and class, and gender and sexuality, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.

Topical Outline

  • Minstrelsy
  • The shift from Victorianism to modernism
  • The business of popular music
  • Authenticity in country, jazz, Latin-American, and folk music
  • Countercultures (including 1960s, punk, and hip-hop)
  • Women in popular music
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