Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester.

Jamaica is a small Caribbean island whose music has had a massive impact on global popular music and culture. In this seminar, we will immerse ourselves in Jamaican sounds, from the ska and rocksteady of the 1960s to the reggae, dub, and dancehall music of the 1970s and beyond. We will do a deep dive into the sources and history of Jamaican music — including the distinctive and diverse people, places, cultures, and spiritualities from which the songs emerged. At the same time, we will learn to hear how the music registers the history of the modern world, reflecting upon and resisting the global forces of slavery, colonialism, capitalism, migration, mass media, and technological change that have shaped all of our lives.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.