Class Detail

UCSC Logo

LIT 80I - 01   Topics in American Culture

2023 Summer Quarter

Search



Copy Link
Textbooks
Course Readers

Class Details

Career
Undergraduate
Grading
Student Option
Class Number
70018
Type
Lecture
Instruction Mode
Synchronous Online
Credits
5 units
General Education
ER
Status
Open
Available Seats
3
Enrollment Capacity
41
Enrolled
38
Wait List Capacity
999
Wait List Total
0

Description

A history of one or more cultural genres in written, visual, and/or musical forms. Course topic changes; please see the Class Search for the current topic. May be repeated for credit.

Class Notes

***Topic: Literature Identity and Musical Genres*** Our love of popular musical genres shapes our language, communities, aesthetics, and identities. Many of the genres we love are unique products of U.S. American history, society, and culture -- often with deepest roots in working class communities and communities of color. For some Indigenous rockers, queer avant garde composers, Chicana punks, African American blues singers, and Asian American / Pacific Islander rappers musical genre has been a way to navigate racial and ethnic identity, a way to survive historical and personal trauma, a way to process anger and joy, a way to form community. This class uses literature and media as instruments to explore relationships between musical genres and American identities. It is equally interested in surveying music as a subject of literary expression, and underscoring how musical genres have cultivated literary genres. In this class, you'll survey some quintessential nonfiction forms associated with musical genres, like rock documentaries and autobiographies. You will appreciate how fictional literary genres (poetry, novels, short stories) are vital parts of a tradition linking music with identity. Though you will prioritize literary texts and the study of literature, you will also use literary studies techniques to analyze media, listen critically to playlists, and make observations about your multisensory experiences of music. Many (most) of our authors / artists / texts emerge from a U.S. American social and historical context, but this class is for anyone interested in thinking about musical genre, literature, and identity. No traditional musical skills or knowledge required.

Meeting Information

Days & Times Room Instructor Meeting Dates
TuTh 09:00AM-12:30PM Online Gates,M.E. 07/31/23 - 09/01/23
Search