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Passion, Rebellion and Identity in Popular Music - MUS102

Popular music is, more often than not, the creative expression of dissent. The aim of this unit is to both identify and qualify the dissenting voices and to uncover the complex social and political situations from which they emanate. In this respect, this unit provides students with a critical evaluation of how specific eras and movements within popular music history have enacted political change. Popular music trends have long played a vital role in prompting audiences to reconsider their position in relation to gender, race, class, sexuality and, concomitantly, the historical, political and philosophical contexts that have produced these often divisive social distinctions. This unit examines the broader political frameworks that popular music movements have either defined, encountered or conquered, areas that include all manner of political activism, the emergence of subcultures and countercultures, issues of censorship, sex, morality and much more. Of particular significance to this unit is how popular music has been socially and politically empowering when there was little or no alternative; offering some of society's most disenfranchised populations the means to a voice.

Credit Points: 3
When Offered:

S2 Day - Session 2, North Ryde, Day

Staff Contact(s): Dr Adrian Renzo
Prerequisites:

 

Corequisites:

NCCW(s):
Unit Designation(s):
Unit Type:
Assessed As: Graded
Offered By:

Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies

Faculty of Arts

Course structures, including unit offerings, are subject to change.
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