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Spring 2020 - Tps: Blues & African Amer Lit (AAST-2990-01, ENGL-2490-04)
In this course, we will examine blues music as the first form of African American popular music in tandem with the early recording industry and investigate the influence of this music on culture from the early 20th century until the near present. This class is composed of blues history, studies of specific artists, labels, blues revivals, blues and feminism, and the adaptation of blues to various literary and film texts. We will look specifically at Robert Johnson, B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix for their contributions to the blues and the mythology surrounding these figures. Because this is an interdisciplinary course, we will utilize a vast range of materials, from documentary film to fictional film, visual culture, literature, scholarship and criticism, and of course the music itself to draw conclusions about the medium. An underlying thread that binds all the above texts together is the idea of authenticity, and we can question this notion about the music in how its meaning has been constructed and played out as it has evolved as an international phenomenon. Course requirements include one 7-10 page essay, four response papers, active participation in class, a final exam as well as various quizzes.