Students
ANTH206 – The Anthropology of Music and Sound
2012 – D2
General Information
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| Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Daniel Fisher
Contact via daniel.fisher@mq.edu.au
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| Credit points |
Credit points
3
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| Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
ANTH150 or 12cp
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| Corequisites |
Corequisites
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| Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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| Unit description |
Unit description
This unit explores the distinct contributions that ethnographic research makes to our understanding of sound as a domain of social life. Lectures will be organised around ethnographic approaches to the social life of sound and to related issues of audio media and music. This unit will be guided by several questions: How does sound matter for social life? What can anthropology's distinct disciplinary approaches contribute to our understanding of the interanimation of acoustic experience and new audio technologies? Topics will include the significance of audio media in urban space; the institutional production of sound as culture; social features of perceptual difference across cultures; sound technologies in colonial cultures; and psychoacoustic and neuroanthropological understandings of hearing and perception.
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Important Academic Dates
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- With diligent reading and engagement with course materials, students will gain an understanding of the historical emergence of anthropological studies of music and sound
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
- Course will provide general overview of ethnomusicology's origins and development. Students will gain familiarity with a number of non-western musical traditions and musical systems
Assessment Tasks
| Name | Weighting | Due | Groupwork/Individual | Short Extension | AI Approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| class preparation | 20% | na | No | ||
| final exam | 40% | week 13 | No | ||
| exam | 10% | week 3 | No | ||
| Essay (approx. 2000 words) | 30% | week 9 | No |
class preparation
Due: na
Weighting: 20%
Groupwork/Individual:
Short extension 3: No
AI Approach:
You are required to prepare for each weekly tutorial by completing the required readings. These readings are all available in the Unit Reader or, if monographs, are for sale in the Co-op bookstore. The reading material also serves to prepare you for seminars and essay and exam writing. You should come to seminars prepared to discuss the required readings (and films if applicable). Your mark is based on your ability to demonstrate your comprehension of the material through active seminar participation – that is, by stating points of view, raising questions, and analysing the material.
In addition to weekly reading, students are also required to prepare and present one of the seminar topics. Topics will be allocated (by student choice) during the first week of seminars.
Your presentation will be assessed in terms of how well you are able to communicate the main ideas of the texts and how much you are able to develop your own arguments. To assist in the latter you are required to bring to seminars an example from the media or your everyday life to supplement and illuminate the issues and arguments you present.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- With diligent reading and engagement with course materials, students will gain an understanding of the historical emergence of anthropological studies of music and sound
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
- Course will provide general overview of ethnomusicology's origins and development. Students will gain familiarity with a number of non-western musical traditions and musical systems
final exam
Due: week 13
Weighting: 40%
Groupwork/Individual:
Short extension 3: No
AI Approach:
The exam will be both short answer and essay based and will cover the films, lectures and seminar readings in the course.
The exam will be distributed on Tuesday of week 13 and is to be returned by the following Monday. As this is an exam, there can be NO EXTENSIONS or late acceptances.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- With diligent reading and engagement with course materials, students will gain an understanding of the historical emergence of anthropological studies of music and sound
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
- Course will provide general overview of ethnomusicology's origins and development. Students will gain familiarity with a number of non-western musical traditions and musical systems
exam
Due: week 3
Weighting: 10%
Groupwork/Individual:
Short extension 3: No
AI Approach:
This multiple choice exam will be given in lecture #3 and will assess your engagement with course texts and lectures from weeks one and two.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- With diligent reading and engagement with course materials, students will gain an understanding of the historical emergence of anthropological studies of music and sound
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Course will provide general overview of ethnomusicology's origins and development. Students will gain familiarity with a number of non-western musical traditions and musical systems
Essay (approx. 2000 words)
Due: week 9
Weighting: 30%
Groupwork/Individual:
Short extension 3: No
AI Approach:
Weekly tutorial readings provide broad research areas for this essay, due in the 5th week of the term. Questions, with additional literature, will be distributed in week 2.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- With diligent reading and engagement with course materials, students will gain an understanding of the historical emergence of anthropological studies of music and sound
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
- Course will provide general overview of ethnomusicology's origins and development. Students will gain familiarity with a number of non-western musical traditions and musical systems
Delivery and Resources
This course entails both lectures and tutorials. You are required to attend both. Teaching staff do understand that under extenuating circumstances students may not be able to attend a lecture. In such cases special consideration may be pursued and staff will undertake to accomodate student's particular circumstances.
All lectures will be recorded on echo360 and made available on the course's ilearn site to assist you in preparing for the final exam.
Lecture slides and images will also be made available on the class's iLearn page for your reference.
Occasionally, internet links and web-based resources may also be utilized by the class and these will also be made availalbe on the iLearn page.
While every effort will be made to assist students to access these course materials, lecture attendance is mandatory for this class.
Unit Schedule
Week One, 31 July
Introducing the anthropology of music and sound. What might we learn from ethnographies of musical life? What more might an ‘anthropology of sound’ entail?
Part I: Anthropologies of Music
Week Two, 7 August
What is ethnomusicology? What do ethnographies of music entail? What does ethnomusicology look like beyond ethnoaesthetics?
Week Three, 14 August
Aboriginal musical pragmatics and ancestral precedent [guest lecturer Georgia Curan]
Week Four, 21 August
Sufi traditions and contemporary music in Turkey
Week Five, 28 August
Country music as world music
Week Six, 4 September
Indian Musical Culture
Week Seven, 11 September
Music in/and the body: Questions of dance, movement, and culture
*******Mid-semester break: 17/09/2012 – 28/09/2012*******
Week Eight, 2 October
World music or musical cosmopolitanism?
Anthropologies of Sound:
Week Nine, 9 October.
acoustic ecology/soundscapes/acoustemology/ sound as anthropology (Alain Corbin, Steve Feld)???
Week Ten, 16 October. Reading Week – no lectures, no tuts
Week 11, 23 October.
On radio, mass mediation, and mass publics
Week 12, 30 October.
Ethnographic recording: History, method, and the question of cultural property
Week Thirteen, 6 November
Technologies of sound production : culture as commodity, ‘noise,’ musicians as consumers, technologies and prostheses, cycles of novelty and obsolescence, mediation of musical systems, genre, aesthetics of new technologies, non-transparency of media technology to cultural poetics
Policies and Procedures
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
Assessment Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Special Consideration Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/special_consideration/policy.html
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
All four assignments must be completed in order to pass the course.
Marking Scale: Your work in this course will be assessed on the following scale:
P = 50-64% The average mark. For competent, descriptive work. Identifies and reiterates the main arguments and analyses from the readings.
Cr = 65-74% Work which is more analytical; which may question and debate; appreciate and utilise theory; draw comparisons and makes connections between varying models, methods, and positions.
D = 75-84% For very inquisitive and connective work. The analysis may exceed the terms set by the readings and is original and imaginative in argumentation.
HD = 85-100% For highly imaginative and exceptionally articulated intellectual work that displays such marked excellence that it deserves the highest level of recognition.
**Plagiarism Statement***
Plagiarism is a serious matter and will be treated as such by the Division. It is important that you understand what plagiarism is and the nature of the penalties it incurs. A full outline of the Division’s policy on plagiarism can be found at
http://www.scmp.edu.au/postgrad.html.
It is expected that every student familiarise themselves with this policy.
Student Support
Macquarie University provides a range of Academic Student Support Services. Details of these services can be accessed at: http://students.mq.edu.au/support/.
UniWISE provides:
- Online learning resources and academic skills workshops http://www.mq.edu.au/learning_skills/
- Personal assistance with your learning & study related questions.
- The Learning Help Desk is located in the Library foyer (level 2).
- Online and on-campus orientation events run by Mentors@Macquarie.
Student Services and Support
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Support Unit who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
Student Enquiries
Details of these services can be accessed at http://www.student.mq.edu.au/ses/.
IT Help
If you wish to receive IT help, we would be glad to assist you at http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.
When using the university's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students and it outlines what can be done.
Graduate Capabilities
Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- With diligent reading and engagement with course materials, students will gain an understanding of the historical emergence of anthropological studies of music and sound
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
- Course will provide general overview of ethnomusicology's origins and development. Students will gain familiarity with a number of non-western musical traditions and musical systems
Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- With diligent reading and engagement with course materials, students will gain an understanding of the historical emergence of anthropological studies of music and sound
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
Problem Solving and Research Capability
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
Effective Communication
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music
- Students will acquire conceptual skills central to the analysis of sound in social life
Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcome
- Students will gain familiarity with ethnomusicological approaches to the social and comparative analysis of music