Course Syllabus

The Music of the African Diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean (Spring 2021)

Dj_San sebastian Chavi.jpg  

 

This course is a conceptual and thematic exploration of the music of the African Diaspora in Latin America. The semester will be divided into two main modules. The first module will delve into the scholarly debates surrounding the African Diaspora concept in the last decades.  The second module will explore the theoretical implications of the African Diaspora concept to study the historical and social context in which African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean express their life experiences through music. We will listen to and study folkloric, traditional, and popular music from the Caribbean and Latin America that has been a vehicle of negotiation and affirmation of Afro-diasporic identities in the past and present.

The first section of the 2nd module will examine the African Diaspora's music in the region from a historical perspective. In the second section of module two, we will inquire about globalization and transnationalism as social and economic factors in creating, producing, and disseminating the Caribbean and Latin America's contemporary black music. Overall, the course aims to give the students a deeper appreciation of music's role in creating the African Diaspora in Latin America.

Learning Outcomes 

  • Explain the theoretical implications of the concept of the African Diaspora to the study of African descent music in Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Identify the major scholarly debates about the African Diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • Analyze the major social and historical processes that have contributed to the emergence of the African Diaspora in Latin American and the Caribbean
  • Recognize selected African descent musical genres throughout Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Value the aesthetic, social, and political significance of African-Diasporic music in Latin America and the Caribbean

Required Texts

All readings will be posted on the Canvas page or available through the New College Library.

Course requirements

Attendance and participation

It is important to recognize that class discussions and activities are an integral part of the learning process. Therefore, it is expected that all students attend classes regularly and come prepared to engage in scholarly discussions with their peers.  Failure to do so will affect your academic outcome in the class. Students are responsible for material covered during their absence.

It is equally important to create and maintain a respectful class environment where we can all share our ideas and thoughts. Consequently, disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated.

Critical Reviews

Task: Students must submit two (2) critical reviews.

Skills: This written exercise entails a meticulous evaluation and an intellectual positioning on the arguments put forward by the author(s) of the article under examination.  Above all, it is an analytical and evaluative written exercise that must assess the author's central argument and propose historical explanations of a given subject. Some of the questions that could guide your Critical Reviews are:

  • What does the author want to convey in the article?
  • Is the author presents credible and substantive evidence to support their main thesis?
  • What are the weaknesses and strengths of the evidence?
  • Is the historical narrative follow a coherent structure?
  • How does the author structure its claims?
  • What are the underline premises that the author implicitly takes for granted to make its thesis plausible?
  • How the author foresees and deals with potential counter-arguments in her/his/their own narrative?

Purpose: The critical reviews will help improve students' critical reading and writing skills and as a starting point for class discussions.

Format: The critical reviews should be 2 pages long, single space. It should be submitted through Canvas or email two hours before the time of hour class. Each student should bring a copy of their critical review and prepare to participate in class discussions.

Midterm

There will be a midterm exam the week before fall break. It will consist of four discussion questions about the topics discussed in class up to the previous week. More detail will be announced after the third week of classes

Course Policies

Academic Dishonesty

Plagiarism and academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Please read the New College academic dishonesty policy carefully in the following link:

https://www.ncf.edu/advising/academic-dishonesty

Students with Disabilities

“New College of Florida is committed to creating a learning environment that meets the needs of its diverse student body. Students are welcome to discuss any concerns related to barriers to both fully participating and learning in this course. Additionally, I highly encourage students with accommodations to meet with me as soon as possible.

If you have a disability or think you may have a disability, you may contact the Office of Student Disability Services (SDS) to request official accommodation(s). Students may contact SDS in-person (HCL3) at 941-487-4496 OR disabilityservices@ncf.edu.

Additional information regarding SDS can be accessed through the link below:

https://www.ncf.edu/student-disability-services/” (SDS, NCF-Website)

Weekly Calendar

Module I Theory and development of the African Diaspora

Week 1 Introduction to the course

02/01/21

Gomez, Michael, “Diasporic Africa: A View from History” in Gomez, Michael A. 2006. Diasporic Africa: a reader. New York: New York University Press

Manning, P. (2009). “Ch.1 – Diaspora” found in The African Diaspora: A history through culture. New York: Columbia University Press.

Week 2 Defining the African Diaspora

02/08/21

Paul Gilroy, “The Black Atlantic as a Counterculture of Modernity” in Gilroy, Paul.  1993.  The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP

Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe.  2008.  The Challenges of Studying the African Diasporas.  African Sociological Review12/2, 4-21

Kelley & Patterson, “Unfinished Migrations” African Studies Review 43, No. 1, Special Issue on the Diaspora (April 2000): 11-45.

Suggested Readings

Chivallon, Christine.  2002. “Beyond Gilroy’s Black Atlantic: The Experience of the African Diaspora.”  Diaspora11/

Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe. “African Diasporas: Toward a Global History.” African Studies Review 53, no. 1 (2010): 1–19. doi:10.1353/arw.0.0274.

Week 3 The Making of an Atlantic World

02/15/21

Gomez, M. (2004). Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora (New Approaches to African History). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511814648 https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/10.1017/CBO9780511814648(Chapter 4, 5, and 6)

Week 4

02/22/21 [NO CLASSES BREAK DAY 1]

Week 5 The Soundtrack of Pan Africanism

03/01/21

Njemanze, Paul Obiyo Mbanaso & Njemanze, Paul Obiyo, “Pan-Africanism: Africa in the Minds and Deeds of Her Children in the Caribbean,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 20, 2011, pp. 152-165.

Agawu, Kofi, Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions, Routledge, Nueva York, 2003 (Chapter 3)

Kofi Agawu, “The Invention of ‘African Rhythm,’” Journal of the American Musicological Society 48, no. 3 (Autumn 1995): 380–95.

 

Week 6 Music and the African Diaspora in Latin America: searching for common ground

03/08/21

Roberts, John S., Black Music of Two Worlds: African, Caribbean, Latin, and African-American traditions, New York, Schirmer Books, 2nd edition, 1998. (Chapters 1 & 2)

Charters, Samuel. 2009. A language of song journeys in the musical world of the African diaspora. Durham [NC]: Duke University Press. [Selected Chapters]

Week 7 

03/15/21

[Critical Review] 

Week 8

03/22/21 [NO CLASSES BREAK DAY 3] 

Globalization, Music and the (re)production of the African Diaspora I

Alleyne, Mike. 2008. “Globalization and Commercialization of Caribbean Music.” Popular Music History 3 (3): 247–73. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2009971409&site=eds-live.

Perry, Marc D. 2016. Negro soy yo: hip hop and raced citizenship in neoliberal Cuba. Durham: Duke University Press. (Chap. 1 & 2)

Week 9 Globalization, Music and the (re)production of the African Diaspora II (The (re)territorialization of Hip-Hop in Brazil)

03/29/21

Pardue, Derek. 2008. Ideologies of marginality in Brazilian hip hop. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters, 2 & 4

Week 10 Dialogue with Blackness: Jazz in Latin America and the Caribbean

04/05/21

Karush Matthew B. 2012. “Blackness in Argentina: Jazz, Tango and Race Before Perón.” Past & Present, no. 216 (August): 215–45. doi:10.1093/pastj/gts008

The Hazards of Hybridity: Afro-Cuban Jazz, Mambo, and Revolution" in Borge, Jason. 2018. Tropical Riffs: Latin America and the Politics of Jazz. Duke University Press.

Week 11 Dialogue with Blackness: Jazz in Latin America and the Caribbean

 04/12/21

Washburne, Christopher. 2020. Latin jazz. The other jazz. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Chapter 2]  Caribbean and Latin American Reverberations and the First Birth of Latin Jazz: New Orleans and the Spanish Tinge; [Chapter 6] More Cowbell

Calle 54, Fernando Trueba’s 2000 documentary featuring Latin Jazz musicians 

Calle 54 is a 2000 documentary film about Latin jazz by Spanish director Fernando Trueba. With only minimal introductory voiceovers, the film consists of studio performances by a wide array of Latin Jazz musicians. Artists featured include Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Cachao, Eliane Elias, Gato Barbieri, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Chano Domínguez, Jerry Gonzalez, Dave Valentin, Aquíles Báez, and Michel Camilo. The film takes its name from Sony Music Studios, where much of the film was shot, which are located on 54th Street in New York City.

Week 12 Blackness and Music in Colombia [Currulao Workshop/ José Martínez

 04/19/21

Peter Wade. 1998. “Music, Blackness and National Identity: Three Moments in Colombian History.” Popular Music, no. 1: 1.

Week 13 The Black Pacific of South America (Colombia, Ecuador and Perú)

 04/26/21

Heidi Carolyn Feldman, "Strategies of the Black Pacific: Music and Diasporic Identity in Peru" in  Dixon, Kwame, and John Burdick. 2012. Comparative perspectives on Afro-Latin America. Gainesville: University Press of Florida

Ritter, Jonathan. 2011. “Chocolate, Coconut, and Honey: Race, Music, and the Politics of Hybridity in the Ecuadorian Black Pacific.” Popular Music & Society 34 (5): 571–92. doi:10.1080/03007766.2010.537848.

Birenbaum Quintero, Michael. 2019. "Race, Region, Representativity, and the Folklore Paradigm" in Rites, rights et rhythms: a genealogy of musical meaning in Colombia's Black Pacific.

Week 14 Listening for Africa in Latin America

 05/03/21

Garcia, David F. 2017. Listening for Africa: freedom, modernity, and the logic of Black music's African origins. [Chapter 5 & Conclusion]

Week 15

05/10/21

 

Return to the Start Here Module