Studies of both indigenous and borrowed traditions in the popular, folk, and art music of the Americas from the colonial period to the present.

Introduction to the history of Mexican and Caribbean traditional and commercial music, with some discussion of classical music as well. Attention will be given to music of indigenous, African, European, and mixed origin. Mexico and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean receive special attention. Class meetings will be divided into lecture/discussion segments, videos, listening, and performance instruction/demonstration.

Consider Latin American music within a broad cultural and historical framework. Latin American musical practices are explored illustrating the many ways that aesthetics and society are embodied in and negotiated through performance. Concepts include diaspora, colonialism, mestizaje, hybridity, migration and globalization.

An introduction to Brazilian and Argentine music from samba, capoeira, and forro to tango, cumbia villera, and chacarera; examines such music making within its various historical, social, and political contexts. Uses course readings, lectures, listening assignments, performance attendance, and movie screenings to analyze themes including nationalism and ethnicity, globalization and development, and democracy and social justice.

Introduction to the music of Andean countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Explores the role music plays in shaping historical and modern Andean societies, as well as how music comments upon national culture, society, and politics, with particular attention to the ways in which musicians and musical movements continue to influence Andean societies. Subjects include pre-Columbian and colonial music making; music representative of the tripartite indigenous, African, and Iberian heritage of Andean countries; aesthetics, identity, and musical expression; ritual, religion, and the politics of musical performance.

The musical legacy of the African slave trade in the Americas, the social contexts in which black musical forms have developed, and their varied forms. Subjects include the shifting meanings of "black music" in various contexts; the notion of hybridity; the uses of African influenced music as a political or oppositional tool; and African ethnic groups represented prominently in the New World, the traditions they brought with them, and the ways they have been adapted to new ends.

Explore historically, culturally and stylistically the chronological development of the modern mariachi, with close attention to historical and socio-cultural influences from indigenous, European and African people; nationalism and mass media; crossing borders and changing performance practices.

Explore historically, culturally and stylistically the various regional styles of Mexican music and Mexican American music as it has developed along the southern border of the United States, with close attention to historical and socio-cultural influences from indigenous, European and African people; nationalism and mass media; stylistic change and mainstream acceptance.

Examine culturally and historically the music and sound cultures that exist in Mexico and in Mexican American communities in the United States. Explore the social, cultural, religious, and political currents that have impacted the development of the musical and aural cultures in Mexico and on the US-Mexico border, and how these currents have shaped conceptions of identity and cultural nationalism, using the concept of soundscape as the dominant framework. Engage with readings in popular culture, popular media (cinema and television), cultural theory, history and musicology.