Race, Religion, and Protest Music

3 credits · Divinity School

This course examines how music and other related forms of art emerge from a particular social location in order to: help define pressing social issues; galvanize mass social movements; and function as symbols of protest. Using several methodological and theoretical approaches, the course will explore a wide variety of musical genres such as the spirituals, the blues, gospel, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, folk music, soul music, punk rock, reggae, Afrobeat, and hip hop in order to determine how racial identity and religious themes have articulated themselves within protest music. Various historical and contemporary examples derived from cross-cultural perspectives will be used to illustrate the impact of race and religion on social protest music. [3] Mr. Floyd-Thomas