Time Schedule:
Carol Edelman Warrior
AIS 110
Seattle Campus
Utilizes historical and contemporary sources to survey the music and music-related traditions of Native North America. Examines traditional music and context from the Northwest Coast, Arctic, Southwest, Great Basin, Plains, Plateau, California, and Eastern Woodlands music-style areas, as well as contemporary neo-traditional and popular genres of American Indian music.
Class description
This course will introduce students to North American Indigenous music. Our goal will be to develop an awareness of the aesthetics, purposes, and innovations that characterize Native American musical forms. Students will learn about socio-historical contexts of colonization and sovereignty, and how they influence the production and reception of North American Indigenous musical expression. Other topics of focus will include issues of representation, cultural property ownership, and ethical concerns. Our readings, as well as the music we listen to and see performed in film, will be organized according to overlapping themes and genres such as “welcoming, asking permission and thanksgiving,� to “revitalization and resistance,� and more. Students will learn that as with many Indigenous art forms, music exists in a means to express cultural continuity, and is embedded in all aspects of Native American social life.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Information will be shared through lecture & discussion, listening to North American Indigenous music, viewing digital media, and reading texts.
Recommended preparation
There are no prerequisites for the course, but some familiarity with North American Indian cultures, philosophy, history and contemporary issues would be helpful (though again, this isn't necessary).
Class assignments and grading
