FRS 003 — Sec. 007— (1 unit) — CRN 73071— W 1:10-2:00 pm — 201 Wellman
Music, Dance and Social Life in the Americas

Instructor: Zoila Mendoza, Department of Native American Studies, College of Letters and Science

Description: The goal of this seminar is to introduce the students to a critical thinking about the relationship between society and the performance of music and dance in the Americas. Through the viewing of 5 films and the reading of two books and several articles and book chapters the students are expected to reflect and learn about how these performative practices shape the social world in which they take place. The seminar will alternate between film viewing and discussion meetings where the texts and the films will be discussed.

Format: The students will be required to turn in weekly 1 or 2 page reports about the film and reading being discussed. In those reports they should bring questions or points for discussion. The students will be expected to participate actively in the discussions. Grading: Students will present weekly written reports of the written and audiovisual materials. I will also require active participation in the discussions.

About the Instructor: My specialty as an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist is the study of festivals, music and dance throughout the world with an emphasis on the Andean reason. I teach graduate and undergraduate courses in NAS that have performance as their main subject. NAS 125 (Performance and Culture Among Native Americans), NAS 32 (Native America Music and Dance) and NAS 224 (Performance in the Americas). I have a book from the University of Chicago Press (2000) on Andean Festivals and Dance and another in Press about folklore and Cultural politics in Peru in the first part of the twentieth century that is currently at Duke University Press. I also have several articles on related subjects in peer review journals.