LATS 331(F) Sound and Movement in the Diaspora: Afro-Latin Identities (Same as Africana Studies 331, American Studies 331, Theatre 331, and Women and GenderStudies 331)*
This course examines various Afro-descendant cultures through music and dance. We focus on Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico and the United States. Through the theoretical and practical study of commercial and grassroots music and dance production, we unpack how performance may re-articulate and challenge ascribed race and gender roles. The first part of the semester establishes fundamental methodological and theoretical frameworks, such as Taylor's epistemology and ontology of performance, Ortiz's transculturation, and Bahktin's carnivalesque inversion. These theories will help us understand that while music and dance are site specific practices, they also serve historically as representational terrains that narrate the Nation and its races. Through dance workshops, New York City fieldtrips, and ethnographic experience, we will explore how music and dance contest such ideological formulations. The second part of the semester concentrates on the United States and on how these expressive practices function within the diaspora. For instance, how does rumba or salsa simultaneously reinforce and/or deconstruct U.S. Latina/o identity in relationship to class, race, gender, and a shared history of colonization and neo-colonialism? Can Hip-Hop serve as a theoretical ground to question the stability of the Nation, gender, race and sexuality?
Format: discussion. Requirements: two oral presentations, one short essay, one midterm paper, one final paper, two fieldtrips to New York City, and participation in a dance workshop. Enrollment limit: 12 (expected: 10).
Hour: JOTTAR