Module overview
The module aims to develop your critical awareness of Latin American music and dance cultures of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the ways that scholars have approached them. Rather than a survey of Latin American music, the course will be thematically focussed on issues which may include indigeneity; social inequalities and marginality; gender and sexuality; migration; ‘race’ and racism; nation-building and cosmopolitanism; politics, dictatorship and social movements; exoticism, folklore and transnationalism; scenes and countercultures; religion; violence. Although the focus will be on Latin American and Latinx popular musics, students may opt to explore Latin American art musics and/or other cultural practices in assessments. Genres and music cultures that may be explored include bolero, bossa nova, corrido, cumbia, danzón, mambo, Nueva canción, punk, rap, reggaeton, rock and roll, salsa, samba, son cubano and tango. The module will be based on the study of books and articles, and close listening and viewing of audio-visual materials.