AMU 225 - Music as Activism

Course Units: 1

From Green Day’s iconic American Idiot (2004) to the strumming of Middle Eastern lutes in Afghani refugee camps-music is an integral means of expressing individual and collective identity, critiquing injustice, and inspiring action. This course explores what forms such activism take and how music and the arts increase awareness of real social and environmental problems and potentially help resolve conflicts. Both through theoretical arguments and concrete case studies, we will see that music-and the individuals who make it-are able to enact real positive social change. CQ: JCHF, JSPE, WAC-R