Module description
In this module, you will develop a deeper understanding of the diverse ways in which European imperialism and colonialism changed musical culture in South and Southeast Asia through a detailed, comparative examination of changing contexts for music making in the Indian Ocean region c.1750-1950. We will focus mainly on British imperialism in the Indian subcontinent and the Malay world; and transition and interplay between cultures, over time, and geographically across the Indian Ocean, will be our major themes. Topics to be covered may include but are not restricted to: different approaches to music and empire; postcolonial and paracolonial; Orientalism and race; circulation; musical knowledge; sound and affect; religion; gender and sexuality; sovereignty and decolonisation. Throughout, this module aims to bring ethnomusicological, musicological and historical approaches to pre-colonial and colonial musical pasts back into creative dialogue, in order to consider how a more nuanced history of changing musical fields can contribute to the wider historical debate on European imperialism and colonialism.
Assessment details
1x 4000 word essay
Educational aims & objectives
- To place musical cultures and their histories in critical and creative dialogue, and to understand these in relation to major historical events such as colonialism, postcolonialism, or globalisation.
- To deepen the students' understanding of diverse ways of writing musical histories through detailed regional case studies.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practical skills appropriate to a Level 7 module and in particular will be able to demonstrate:
- a sound, comparative understanding of the cultural history of music in specific regions, with a focus on the interplay of 'indigenous' and 'foreign' cultures in the context of asymmetrical power relations.
- a detailed knowledge of musicological and ethnomusicological approaches to music.
- an ability to differentiate between and to critique different historiographical paradigms and issues in relation to specific world areas.
- an ability to discuss aspects of musical culture within the framework of these issues and paradigms, including but not restricted to social, political, mercantile, ideological and music-specitic issues.
- a wider ability to use evidence from studying the musical field to contribute to, challenge, and critique pre-existing historical paradigms, rather than merely interpreting musical culture through them.
- all these skills in written argument and seminar discussions
Teaching pattern
10 Lectures and 10 one-hour Seminars