Music and Sports in the Americas

This course explores how music mediates sports experiences in the Americas. Examining case studies including Bob Marley’s relationship with sports, soccer fandom throughout the region, and Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s Super Bowl Halftime performance, we will discuss how genres, sports, and fandoms have conjointly shaped and have been shaped by varied sociocultural dynamics in Latin American and Caribbean countries and diasporas. Through readings, listenings, and viewings we will examine the musicality and athleticism of fans, artists, and sportspersons as well as the promises and dangers of sports and music as spaces for sociality, politics, and expression.