Music and political movements

 Greetings everyone,

 Thanks for all your hard work today. I really appreciate your opinions, questions, and enthusiasm for the topic of discussion.

 Our next reading examines the role of music in political movements. While there is no blog assignment due for tomorrow,  this reading requires your careful consideration. The chapter is broken into two sections, each dealing with a different case study: Nazi Germany and the American Civil Rights Movement. The overarching point of this chapter is to reveal the power of music in driving and sustaining political movements. And further, to reveal how music can be used as a tool of division and de-humanization, or as a tool of inclusion. In Nazi Germany music was used as a tool to divide society along specific lines. In the civil rights movement music was used as a tool to a erase, or transcend those lines of division.

 The point is to understand these twin processes as both being driven by music and expressive culture more generally.

 After our discussion of this reading, we will begin watching a documentary on American popular music in the years following 9/11. It is important that you have read this chapter, and understand its major components before we begin watching this documentary.

 Have a great evening, and I will see you tomorrow morning bright and early.