The Power of Sound: Music for the PeopleMaster ClassIn-Person
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2023
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Columbia University
In partnership with Columbia University
In this class, we will discuss popular culture, particularly music, as a form of political identification and strategy by listening to and examining twentieth-century anthems produced in the African world. Nationalisms, social movements, and racial formation are all key elements of how minority communities reveal the stakes of their play and beliefs, and music is a primary vehicle of those expressions. In addition to readings, we will listen to this music to be better informed about their histories, as well as discuss how we can assist students in hearing and better contributing to the world around them.
Shana Redmond
Shana L. Redmond is a scholar and author of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora and Everything Man: The Form and Function of Paul Robeson, which received a number of prizes, including a 2021 American Book Award. Her public and collaborative writing with artists has appeared on NPR, BBC, and in Mother Jones, as well as liner essays for the vinyl soundtrack release to Jordan Peele's film Us and Wadada Leo Smith's String Quartets, Nos. 1-12. She is Professor of English and comparative literature and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity & Race at Columbia University, and President of the American Studies Association.