Course Schedule and Catalog
Course Schedule - Spring Semester 2025
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
COLL 155 001 (CRN: 26847)
SOUNDING BLACKNESS
Long Title: SOUNDING BLACKNESS: BLACK IDENTITY AND MUSIC (SID RICH)
Department: College Courses
Instructors:
Meeting: 7:00PM - 7:50PM W (13-JAN-2025 - 25-APR-2025)
Part of Term: Full Term - No WL Purge
Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Course Type: Seminar
Language of Instruction: Taught in English
Method of Instruction: Face to Face
Credit Hours: 1
Course Syllabus:
Course Materials: Rice Campus Store
Restrictions:
Must be enrolled in one of the following Level(s):
Undergraduate Professional
Visiting Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Section Max Enrollment: 19
Section Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0 (Max 99)
Current members of the waitlist have priority for available seats.
Enrollment data as of: 15-NOV-2024 3:24AM
Final Exam: No Final Exam
Description: What does Blackness sound like? From rural Southern blues to the sensational beats of hip-hop, music is a powerful medium for expressing the diverse identities, struggles, and experiences of Black communities in the United States. Through active listening of different musical genres and case studies of artists such as Nina Simone, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and Beyoncé, this course explores how Blackness has been made audible and experienced through sound and music. Students will examine the social, political, and artistic roles of Black music across the twentieth-century, focusing on its evolution as a tool of resistance, self-expression, and liberation. Alongside engaging with literature from fields like Black music studies, anthropology, and cultural studies, students will analyze key theories in Black studies and explore their relationship to the sonic worlds of Black musicians. By the end of this course, students will gain new tools to think critically about how music not only mirrors the world around us but also opens up ways to understand one another and express our shared human experiences.