Music and Post-colonial Studies

Objectives

a) To identify the premises underlying and the approaches related to Post-colonial and Decolonial Studies, mainly concerning theirapplication to sound/music objects.

b) To question and deconstruct eurocentric narratives considering the relational complexity between political, social, cultural, andsound/musical contexts.

c) To explore colonial legacies and respective post-colonial challenges for the sound and musical configuration of performative practicesfrom Portuguese-Speaking African Countries (PALOP).

d) To explore the history and sound specificities of expressive modes linked to PALOP through the lenses of Post-colonial Studies,relating them to relevant social and historical processes.

e) To explore the production, mediation, and consumption practices within the World Music market and the Lusophone cultural circuit.

f) To apply the skills and knowledge acquired in a written test and a paper presentation focused on a musical genre.

General characterization

Code

01107795

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Marco Antonio Roque de Freitas

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - 168

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

N/A

Bibliography

Ajotikar, R., & Straaten, E. A. (2021). Postcolonial sound archives. The World of Music, 10(1), 5–20.

Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.

Cardina, M. & Rodrigues, I. N. (2023). Remembering the Liberation Struggles in Cape Verde: A Mnemohistory. Memory Studies: Global Constellations. Abingdon: Routledge.

Carvalho, J. S. de (1999), “Makwayela: choral performance and nation building in Mozambique”, Horizontes Antropológicos 5 (11), 145-182.

Chambel, M. (2022). Dêxa puíta sócó(m)pé. Música em São Tomé e Príncipe: do colonialismo à independência. Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa.

Cidra, R. (2021). Funaná, Raça e Masculinidade: Uma trajetória colonial e pós-colonial. Outro Modo.

Cooper, F. (2005). Colonialism in question. University California Press.

Domingos, N. (Ed.) (2021). Cultura Popular e Império: As lutas pela conquista do consumo cultural em Portugal e nas suas colónias. ICS.

Erlmann, V. (1999). Music, Modernity, and the Global Imagination. South Africa and the West. Oxford University Press

Freitas, M. R. de (2023). A Construção sonora de Moçambique (1974-1994). Sistema Solar / Teatro Praga.

Loomba, A. (2015). Colonialism/Post-colonialism. Routledge.

Matos, M. de (2018). From the radios to the stage: Juvenile political participation and dissent through rap. In Martins, R., and M. Canevacci, eds. 2018. Lusophone Hip-Hop: ‘Who We Are’ and `where We Are’: Identity, Urban Culture and Belonging. Canon Pyon: Sean Kingston Publishing.

Moorman, M. (2019). Powerful frequencies: Radio, State power, and the cold war in Angola 1931-2002. Ohio University Press.

Sardo, S. (2018) ‘Shared Research Practices on and about music: toward decolonizing colonial ethnomusicology’. In J. Martí and S. R. Gútiez (eds), Making Music, Making Society. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 217-238.

Soares, A. C. (2021). ‘Sembapatrimonioimaterial.Com: Performances Locais, Narrativas Nacionais Imaginadas, Diálogos a Partir Do Terreno’. GIS - Gesto, Imagem e Som - Revista de Antropologia 6 (1).

Tan, S. E. (2021). Special issue: Decolonising music and music studies. Ethnomusicology Forum, 30(1), 4–8.

Turino, T. (2000). Nationalists, cosmopolitans, and popular music in Zimbabwe. University of Chicago Press.

Valentim, C. S. (2022). Sons do Império, Vozes do Cipale. Canções cokwe e Memórias do Trabalho Forçado nas Lundas, Angola. Fundação Doutor António Agostinho Neto.

Teaching method

The Curricular Unit is taught in a seminar format. Each session is divided into three parts:

1. Introduction, when relevant issues to Post-colonial Studies are presented and discussed through the analysis of an audio/audiovisual sample (15 min).

2. Presentation of the session's main contents (55 min).

3. Discussion of selected articles related to the session's topic (30 min).

Evaluation method

Assiduousness, participation and discussion of texts (20%)

Written test focused on the contents taught (30%)

Presentation of a paper focused on a musical genre (30%)

Written test focused on the identification and analysis of music samples (20%)

Subject matter

MUSIC AND POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE PORTUGUESE-SPEAKING AFRICAN COUNTRIES

MODULE 1. Postcolonial / Decolonial Studies: an introductio

MODULE 2. Colonial Legacies

MODULE 3: Sounding Independence: the case of the Portuguese-speaking African Countries

MODULE 4: Global Imagination and Cosmopolitanism

MODULE 5: Genres and Musical Categories

Programs

Programs where the course is taught:

Bachelor in Musicology