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This course will chart the rise of Aotearoa/NZ popular music from the Maori showbands of the 1950s through pop, rock, folk, reggae, punk, metal, hiphop, and EDM, and include examples from many of the subgenres hidden within those broad styles. The course readings will introduce students to key Cultural Studies concepts and theorists, all of which will be supported by texts and media from local music commentators. A key theme to be discussed will be the nation’s myth-making: that as Blam Blam Blam put it in 1981, ‘we have no racism / we have no sexism / there is no depression in New Zealand’. Taught on campus, and through distance learning, there will be 2 x two-hour workshops per week featuring music, videos, documentaries, and other cultural media, along with an online tutorial during which students will be encouraged to contribute media that relates to that week’s topic. As we move through the decades and genres, we will discuss the music in relation to the physical, social, and cultural context which produced it, with attention paid to political concerns such as Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Dawn Raids, the 1981 Springbok Tour, gender, LGBTQIA+ rights, and our position as a Pacific Island nation in a region particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. Students will be given the opportunity to further explore specialist music interests through the course assessments.
NB: Course name from 'E Tū' by Upper Hutt Posse (1988). Used with permission.
By the end of the course:Students will have acquired an introduction to cultural studies as a discipline, and an overview of academic approaches to popular music cultures. Students will have developed cultural awareness of te Tiriti o Waitangi and issues regarding colonisation. Students will be able to demonstrate a familiarity with main topics in the discipline (semiotics, subcultures, globalisation etc.) Students will have developed reading, writing, listening, presentation, and reflection skills that will be transferable to involvement in other courses. Students will be able to adapt their cultural studies learning to local and global contexts through examples from Aotearoa New Zealand.
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:
Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award
Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.
Employable, innovative and enterprising
Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.
Biculturally competent and confident
Students will be aware of and understand the nature of biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand, and its relevance to their area of study and/or their degree.
Globally aware
Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Erin Harrington
This course will be taught by Dr Sharon McIver.
No required texts aside from material on LEARN.
Domestic fee $894.00
International fee $4,100.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Humanities .