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SEM {STUDENTNEWS} A publication of MUSIC AND POLITICS the Society for Ethnomusicology © Letter from the SEM President 1 Student Voices: Who Cares About Ethnomusicology? 5 Thoughts from the Field 10 Audiovisual Frames: What Films Can Do: An Interview with Jeff Roy 14 Dear SEM 19 “We’re Not Gonna Take It”: Trump and Striking West Virginia Teachers 22 Deconstruction as Political Discourse in Janelle Monáe’s “Q.U.E.E.N.” 25 Stadium Shows and Spotify: Popular Music and the Complicity of Consumption 29 “Baile de Favela” and Its Sounding Transgressions 32 Glocal Politics in Bavarian Slang Rap: “Wolli” by Liquid & Maniac 37 Music and Conflict Resolution in Israeli-Palestinian Relations 42 Peacebuilding, Not Politics: Music and MESPO’s Model for Change 46 Ethnomusicology and Empathy 49 Join your peers After the Mudslides: The Ethics of Singing, Witnessing, and Fieldwork 51 by following us on Beyond the IRB: Affirmative Consent in the Field 54 Facebook, Twitter, Analogies of Political Structure in Ethnomusicological Writing 56 and semsn.com Politics & Music: An Annotated Bibliography 60 to get the latest updates and calls Our Staff 63 Volume 14, Number 1 | Spring/Summer 2018 Volume for submission! Cover image courtesy of Liquid & Maniac/Demograffics © (see page 37) Letter from the SEM President The Coextensive Moment of Music and Politics continue to be surprised at how many case studies, in Africa: A Pedagogical Perspective musical repertoires, and pedagogical experiences As I write this brief reflection, I we have in common (note that both of us conducted wind down the spring semester doctoral-level field research in Tanzania). I should at Vanderbilt University where I say that when we first started teaching together, it co-teach a course with political was crystal clear to the students who the “political scientist Keith Weghorst, titled scientist” was versus the “ethnomusicologist.” We “Rhythm of Change: African seemed to be speaking different languages—he Music and African Politics,” had wonderfully complex graphs; I had slides with as part of our university’s initiative to support musical instruments. After several weeks, however, trans-institutional team teaching. As a theoretical we established a pedagogical groove, and I began concept, the confluence of music and politics may to notice fewer charts, diagrams, and organological be commonplace to most ethnomusicologists. Yet, images in our joint sessions. collaborating with a political scientist who “gets it” Since Vanderbilt does not have an African studies in the classroom was an opportunity I could not program, the students came to the course with a pass up. While each of us clearly brings a different variety of backgrounds and a meager assortment set of discipline-specific tools and methodologies of courses from which they could draw preexisting to the classroom every week, we nevertheless continued on next page . ISSN 2578-4242 1 Letter from the SEM President . continued information (it turned out that our individual courses By the end of the course, I heard students using in African Music and African Politics were direct the phrase, “coextensive moment of music and feeder courses). So, in most cases, we started with politics,” casually in their interviews as if thinking basic information, assuming nothing of the political of the interdependence of music and politics in or musical backgrounds of individual case studies such a way had become second nature. The course presented in class. We conceptualized the course outline below should not be understood as a strict into four substantive units culminating in a deep syllabus but rather as a road map for the emergence dive into local immigrant communities in Nashville, of our ideological perspectives on the roles of Tennessee, specifically the Somali community. music and politics in the study of contemporary I include a rough outline below (from which we and historic African cultures. In addition, I include frequently deviated) to give a sense of the flow of the the bibliography [available at semsn.com] for the semester and the intended learning outcomes. In the course from which we drew our daily readings. I also Vol. 14, No. 1 | Spring/Summer 2018 Vol. spirit of esprit de corps, the detailed course outline invite you to visit rhythm-of-change.com, where } below maps out the conceptual trajectory we planned we document the course experience. As this was for the semester, allowing for several deviations, the first for this course, I would of course welcome including a week-long visit with revolutionary artist any reactions or insight, especially regarding course Sams’K Lejah from Burkina Faso and culminating in structure and readings. Feel free to contact me a week-long residency with a multi-ethnic group of directly at [email protected]. ■ musicians from Mali. STUDENTNEWS { Gregory Barz, Vanderbilt University President, Society for Ethnomusicology SEM Course Outline Section 1: Background and Course Preliminaries Section 1.1: Why Music? Why does music have a strong and powerful influence on humans? How does music affect us and shape our behavior? Our class begins by exploring how the stimulus of music elicits mental, physical, and emotional responses. We also study how music is used as a means of spreading information. Our first introductory goal of the course is to understand music as an agent of political change through the ways in which it is used and processed by humans. Section 1.2: Why Africa? A second introductory goal of the course is deconstructing students’ preexisting knowledge about Africa and its politics and music. Oration as a means of communicating historical and political narratives is prominent in African history. Illiteracy has remained high in many African countries, and, as a consequence, music as a form of communication is still critical. This introductory goal establishes the importance of oral tradition in Africa as a means of spreading information, making it ideal for the study of politics and music. This section also interrogates preconceptions about Africa as a continent, its music, and its culture. We establish a critical approach toward images of Africa from the start. Whether its Rick Ross tweeting about landing in the “beautiful country of Africa,” Toto blessing the rains of the sub-Continent, or lessons of the Rwandan genocide told by Wyclef Jean, addressing stereotypes early on is critical. We will provide a brief history of the politics of sub-Saharan Africa, focusing in particular on the late-colonial period (1940–1950s/60s), the post-colonial period (1960–1990s), the resurgence of democratization (1990–later 1990s), and the twenty-first century. Section 1.3: Country Profiles. Our review of political history will focus in particular on the cases that guide our substantive coursework. The country cases include: (1) Nigeria, (2) Tanzania, (3) Sierra Leone, (4) South Africa, (5) Sudan, (6) Rwanda, and (7) Somalia. continued on next page . Society for Ethnomusicology © 2 Letter from the SEM President . continued Section 2: Music, Nationalism, and Pan-Africanism Section 2.1: Formation and Politicization of Identity. We begin with the classical literature on identity formation from anthropology (Benedict Anderson [1983], etc.), followed by the rich political science literature on the cultural heterogeneity of African states that has made strong national identities so elusive. We then move to two successful attempts to establish strong national identity—Tanzania and South Africa—and the role of music in the process. Section 2.2: Tanzania: Umoja in a Divided Union. For Tanzania, we explore the role of Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa policy of African Socialism, which combined forced relocation, villagization, and economic collectivism with a profile of national symbols designed to build a Tanzanian identity that emphasized homogeneity. In Zanzibar, we will see how artists and music, like Bi Kudude’s performance of taarab song “Kijiti”, challenge the political power of traditional authority, and how taarab music has been deployed in Tanzania’s history to build national unity alongside subnational Zanzibari identity. We explore the successes and shortcomings of identity formation in Vol. 14, No. 1 | Spring/Summer 2018 Vol. } modern Tanzania, where Zanzibar still seeks political autonomy. Section 2.3: South Africa: Coloring the Rainbow Nation. We turn our attention to South Africa in the post-apartheid era. Faced with the difficult tasks of erasing years of institutionalized segregation and brutality, party leaders encountered the impossible task of creating unity. We study the efficacy of building the rainbow nation and an image of strength through difference. Section 2.4: Musical Pan-Africanism. Africa and African unity is a theme in sub-Saharan African musics. We trace STUDENTNEWS { themes of Pan-Africanism in musics from the African continent. We also study Pan-Africanism in the West, with particular attention to its emergence in the United States during the cultural revolution of the Harlem SEM Renaissance and into current popular hip-hop and rap. We draw attention to linkages of music and politics in the Caribbean and the living legacies of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Uhuru Movement. Section 3: Music, Democracy, and Dictatorship We begin with readings on key political science concepts in order to scaffold an exploration of music and politics. We then move to understanding the role of music in those political events through case-driven studies. Section 3.1: Democratization and Elections. Africa’s post-colonial history is largely defined by non-democratic rule, and the modal regime type in Africa is a variety of authoritarianism. We focus on: (1) military dictatorships in post-colonial Africa; (2) the rise of electoral authoritarianism in the post-Cold-War era; (3) single-party dominant systems; and (4) the structure of electoral campaigns in which opposition faces disadvantages. Section 3.2: Fela Kuti and the Kalakuta Republic. We reflect on Fela Kuti’s Shrine in Lagos and Afrobeat anthems criticizing the Nigerian military (“Zombie”) and military dictator Olusegun Obasanjo (“Coffin for Head of State”).

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