INQ-110 | Can Music Change the World?

Full Title: Can Music Change the World?

Topic Description:

Music, as a symbolic cultural form, expresses ideas and beliefs about the world. We make music when celebrating, mourning, worshiping, partying—and when trying to bring about change. But can music alter existing social, economic, and political structures? Can it trigger action? Some people think it can; others say music just provides a soundtrack. In this course, students consider how diverse groups and marginal communities here and abroad have made music to build community, promote solidarity, and protest injustice. We explore music’s role in political action and social transformation using case studies from popular and traditional musics in a range of cultures. Students develop a unique project on a song or recording or performance of their own choosing.

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: February 2022