Boston Soundscapes and Musical Communities

Explores the soundscapes of Boston and Greater Boston and how residents and institutions construct ideas of home and community through music. Case studies include Chinatown, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, the South End, and East Boston, with attention to cultural centers, places of worship, jazz clubs, pubs, parades, festivals, protests, and street performance. Questions of social identity, racial inequities, urban policy, and residents' tactics to claim cultural spaces are considered. Attendance at local musical events is encouraged. Through a semester-long, library- supported research project, a collaborative ArcGIS StoryMap documenting public musical life in the Boston area is developed.