INQ-271 | Global Pop

Full Title: Global Pop: Musical Authenticity and Transculturation

Topic Description:

The globalization of the music industry might lead us to think that the world has become a stage for American popular music. But what is “American” music? Today the blues is everywhere, hip hop is a global genre, Latin rhythms can be heard on any new recording, and the Billboard top 100 in America features songs in Spanish. In fact, the sound and feel of global popular music evolved from a centuries-old cultural exchange called “the Black Atlantic,” which has its roots in the colonial economy of Europe’s trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using the concepts of authenticity and transculturation in popular music, this course approaches music history from the perspective of racial and ethnic cross-fertilization—a phenomenon that’s often little known or understood (or simply taken for granted). Not only has the blending of cultures given rise to what we call ‘American music’, but it also marks what’s perhaps most interesting in globalized cultural systems.

Counts as Global? Yes

Topic Approved: October 2021