MUSC7500 - Music and Political Anthropology

Music and Political Anthropology

What is the relationship between sound and sovereignty? What does anthropology tell us about different forms of hierarchy, territory, labor, music, and how these relate? What work does music history do for people (and for governments) in particular political contexts? In this course, we consider these and related questions by engaging classic and recent works in political anthropology and music studies. Though the regional foundations for our course will be South and Southeast Asia, the class will roam globally. We will delve into related work in media studies, linguistic anthropology, and religious studies. Along the way, we explore topics like protests, noise regulation, the voice (e.g., of the people), caste, plantation labor, and non-state spaces.Topics in Ethnomusicology.
Open to graduate students from all departments. See department website (under course tab) for current term course description: https://music.sas.upenn.edu