This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
This module examines the intimate interconnection of Anglo-American popular music and music of folk and non-Western origin. Students will look in detail at the stylistic features of popular music and consider the role of music from places such as Africa, Asia and South America in their formation and development. The course will systematically introduce a number of key concepts in the study of popular and world music such as otherness, diaspora, hybridity, syncretism and creolisation.
This module will be taught by means of a 1-hour lecture and 1-hour seminar for ten weeks:
Total Contact Hours: 20
Independent Study Hours: 130
Total Study Hours: 150
There will also be opportunity for individual feedback tutorials on work in progress during the module.
This module will be assessed by 100% coursework.
Essay, 3000 words 100%
Level 6 students will be given more challenging essay questions than Level 5 students, in order to allow them to demonstrate higher learning outcomes.
Bennett, A. (2001). Cultures of Popular Music. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Frith, S. (2000). 'The Discourse of World Music' in Born, G. and Hesmondhalgh, D. eds. Western Music and Its Others. Berkley: University of California Press.
Manuel, P. (1988). Popular Musics of the Non-Western World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 1: 'Perspectives on the Study of Non-Western Popular Musics'
Taylor, T. D. (1997). Global Pop: World Music, World Markets. London: Routledge. Chapter 1: 'Popular Musics and Globalization', pp. 1-38.
See the library reading list for this module (Medway)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
.On successfully completing the module Level 6 students will be able to:
1) Demonstrate critical insight into the relationship between Western popular music styles and music of folk and non-Western origin.
2) Critically evaluate the notion of world music, its meanings and its discursive significance.
3) Demonstrate a critical understanding of key issues in the study of popular and world music such as otherness, diaspora and hybridity.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1) Prepare work using IT skills, including use of online and electronic information sources.
2) Prioritise tasks and manage time and resources effectively.
3) Demonstrate flexibility of thought and an ability to understand alternative points of view.
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