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2021/2022

Music, Identity and Gender

Code: 100634 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500240 Musicology OT 3 0
2500240 Musicology OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Silvia Martínez García
Email:
Silvia.Martinez.Garcia@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

Classes can be taught in Spanish, at the request of the class group and after an agreed decision

Prerequisites

None

Objectives and Contextualisation

- Identify the processes that underlie the relationships between sociocultural gender categories and musical dynamics, in the contemporary Western world

- Obtain a critical overview of the main feminist and gender theories

- Relate the transcultural variability of symbolic and political systems with musical practices

- Apply to research the main theoretical and analytical tools recently developed in the field of Feminist Musicology, the Queer Theory and the different theoretical currents of feminism of the 20th and 21st centuries.

- Prepare small historical or ethnographic research with a gender perspective

- Develop critical thinking about Musicology and Gender Studies applied to music that contribute, in the long term, to improving the field of studies

Competences

    Musicology
  • Identify and compare the different channels of reception and consumption of music in society and in culture in each period.
  • Know and understand the historical evolution of music, its technical, stylistic, aesthetic and interpretative characteristics from a diachronic perspective.
  • Producing innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activity.
  • Relate concepts and information from different humanistic, scientific and social disciplines, especially the interactions which are established between music and philosophy, history, art, literature and anthropology.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Carry out projects with musicological content, preparing a work plan and methodology appropriate to the object and timing of the research.
  2. Carrying out a planning for the development of a subject-related work.
  3. Consider the subject as a whole and identify the context in which the processes studied are inscribed and their interrelationship with the elements and factors that are involved in their sociohistorical development.
  4. Define the concepts referred to in relation to the specific problems in the distinction of genres as a generator of the construction of social relations.
  5. Develop arguments and attitudinal strategies to promote respect among different sociocultural proposals.
  6. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  7. Identifying the theories about human species in their relation to society and culture production.
  8. Identifying the transcultural variability of economic, kinship, political, symbolic and cognitive, educational and gender systems as well as their corresponding anthropological theory.
  9. Mantain respect for a diversity of ideas, peoplem situations and cultures in carrying out musicological work.
  10. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  11. Use the main theoretical concepts and approaches related to questions of identity developed through the musical activity and in relation to the set of humanistic and social science disciplines.
  12. Write critical papers on musicology that are planned and organised efficiently.

Content

T.1. Key concepts for the study of Music and Gender

Readings, Materials, and Resources:

Citron, Marcia et al. Gender and the Musical Canon. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993
Green, Lucy. Música, género y educación. Madrid: Morata, 2001


T.2. Introduction to Music and Gender Studies

Readings, Materials, and Resources:

Martí, Josep. “Ser hombre o ser mujer en la música” y “Música y género entre los jóvenes barceloneses”. In: Más allá del arte...Barcelona: Deriva Ed
McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings. Music, Gender and Sexuality. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1991


T.3. Women and Western Music

Readings, Materials, and Resources:

Adkins Chiti, Patricia. Las mujeres en la música. Madrid: Alianza, 1995
Leppert, R. y McClary, S. (eds.): Music and Society. The Politics of Composition, Performance and Reception. Cambridge University Press, 1987
Lorenzo, Josemi. “La historia de las mujeres y la historia de la música: ausencias, presencias y cuestiones teórico-metodológicas”. In: Marisa Manchado. Música y mujeres. Género y poder. Madrid: Ed. Horas y HORAS, pp.19-38


T.4. Feminisms, Music and Musicology

Readings, Materials, and Resources:

COOK, S. y TSOU, J. (eds.). Cecilia Reclaimed: Feminist Perspectivas donde Gender and Music. University of Illinois Press, 1993
Ramos, Pilar. Feminismo y música. Introducción crítica. Madrid: Nareca, 2003
Blog “Musicología feminista” (http://musicologiafeminista.ning.com/)


T.5. Feminisms and Popular Music

Readings, Materials, and Resources:

O’Brien, Lucy. She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop & Soul. 1995
Whiteley, Sheila. Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity, and Subjectivity. New York: Routledge, 2000
Viñuela, Laura. La perspectiva de género y la música popular. Madrid: KRK, 2004


T.6. Gender and Masculinities

Readings, Materials, and Resources:

Dossieres feministas. Vol. 6 “Masculinidades. Mitos, de/construcciones y mascarades”. Castelló, 2001
Biddle, Ian and Gibson, Kirsten. Masculinity and Western Music Practice. Ashgate, 2012
Walser, Robert. Running with the Devil... Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1993 


T.7. Queer Theory and Musicology

Readings, Materials, and Resources:

Brett, Philip et. al. (eds). Queering the Pitch. The new gay and lesbian musicology. New York: Routledge, 1994
Córdoba, D; Sáez, J; Vidarte, P. Teoría Queer. Barcelona: Egales, 2005
Taylor, Jodie. Playing it Queer. Popular Music, Identity and Queer World-making. Bern: Peter Lang, 2012.

Methodology

Reading seminar
 
This seminar encourages students participation. The contents of the course will be acquired mainly by reading and discussing the selected texts, as well as analyzing and discussing the proposed audiovisual materials. The active follow-up of the subject implies a personal commitment to prepare the readings and actively participate in their debate in the classroom.
 
As a complement to the texts, we will also work from concrete and practical case studies, from which the theoretical aspects and the key concepts of the syllabus will be derived.
 
Personal/Group research
 
The first three weeks of class, the students agree with the teacher a topic of work related to the contents of the course, on which they will have to deepen in an autonomous research. The research work is carried out in small groups (from 2 to 4 students) to facilitate the debate, the exchange of opinions and work strategies among the students.
 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classes (online and offline), and exams 35 1.4 3, 4, 8, 1, 9, 6, 11
Type: Supervised      
Individual and collective tutorials (offline or online) 8 0.32 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 9, 11
Oral presentation of a personal research (presentations could be online) 10 0.4 4, 5, 2, 9, 6, 10, 11
Seminar (possible on line meetings included) 12 0.48 4, 5, 8, 9, 6, 11
Type: Autonomous      
Course readings 50 2 3, 4, 2, 8, 1, 9, 11

Assessment

Written test (Exam) will be done during the semester (on the 8th week approx.). In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. The Lecturer will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

The assistance in class is recommended, although it is not mandatory. Nonattendance will not penalize the evaluation. Nevertheless, a continuous and active assistance to the class sessions will be taken into account favorably. 

The evaluation takes account the work during the semester, not just the exams. Therefore re-evaluation is considered an exceptional measure and must be agreed with the teacher previously. To be able to take the re-evaluation test, you must have passed at least one of the partial tests written with a grade of 5.5.

To consider the qualification "not evaluable" (previously "not to present"), the student should skip both written tests or leave the course before the second one.

The review of the final grades will be done with the Lecturer, on dates announced in advance preferably into two weeks from the delivery of the grades to the students.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Exam or equivalent online activity 20% 2 0.08 3, 4, 5, 8, 7, 1, 11
Oral presentation of a group research 20% 15 0.6 3, 4, 5, 2, 9, 6, 10, 11
Tasks in class (offline or online) 40% 8 0.32 3, 4, 2, 7, 9, 6, 10, 11
Written work 20% 10 0.4 2, 1, 10, 12

Bibliography

  • Citron, Marcia J. Gender and the Musical Canon. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993
  • Green, Lucy. Música, género y educación. Madrid: Morata, 2001
  • Hawkins, Stan. The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music and Gender, New York: Routledge, 2017
  • Manchado, Marisa. Música y mujeres. Género y poder. Madrid: Ed. Horas y HORAS, pp.19-38
  • McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings. Music, Gender and Sexuality. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1991
  • Ramos, Pilar. Feminismo y música. Introducción crítica. Madrid: Nareca, 2003
  • Taylor, Jodie. Playing it Queer. Popular Music, Identity and Queer World-making. Bern: Peter Lang, 2012
  • Viñuela, Laura. La perspectiva de género y la música popular. Madrid: KRK, 2004

Software

No specific software needed