Welcome to the oppression project. This is a new addition to this course based off of some feedback from students and some feedback from the A&S dean and her team. In short, the assignment is to address the first three global awareness outcomes in a short paper (6-8 pages not including references). Those outcomes are:
The ability to understand global cultural diversity, through immersion in perspectives, viewpoints, and traditions of a culture or more than one culture outside of the United States, past or present.
The ability to compare and contrast the unique characteristics of world cultures and the universality of human experience through examination of traditions, social organization, and ways of life.
The ability to analyze and understand the interconnectedness of global and local concerns.
There are several advantages to having a project like this at the very beginning of the course, but let me highlight two of them. First, this is my first opportunity to get to know you as a writer, so I can help fix any issues before we get into the bulk of the course. Second, you will be using the five aspects of society framework in this assignment, which will be the same framework for the much bigger “expert” project (and possibly the global awareness project if you choose that route).
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The five aspects of society framework:
The five aspects of society framework is also a really great place to start in any of your coursework across the university that concerns the study of people in general. I think about them a lot. In fact, whenever I hear someone mention the word “society” in a class discussion, my mind automatically goes to these five aspects.
The five aspects of society are these: political, economic, social (including religious), idealistic, and artistic. Please note, you do not have to have an extensive section on the “artistic” aspect for this particular assignment because we are at the beginning of the course, but later in this course in the “expert” project, it should be the bulk of the paper. Here are some more details, but as you read, think about how each aspect affects the others:
The political aspect refers to who is in charge.
Example: Is this society a democracy or a monarchy?
Connection to other aspects: How tightly does the political system restrict or encourage (fund) artistic expression?
The economic aspect refers to how people make a living (which may not include a monetary system).
Example: Is this society a free market or one based on inherited/communal wealth?
Connection to other aspects: Are there wealth disparities in this society, and do they affect the political and social aspects?
The social aspect (including religious) refers to how people interact with each other.
Example: Is there social mobility in this society? Is it a caste system? Do religious leaders wield great power?
Connection to other aspects: It can be fascinating to see how people divide themselves based on what they perceive to be vast ideological or political differences when, from an outsider perspective, the two factions have much more in common.
The idealistic aspect refers to the ideals that the society holds dear and true.
Example: Does this society value scholarship, free speech, competition, religious tradition, military strength, or pacifism?
Connection to other aspects: In my view, the idealistic aspect drives all of the other aspects of society. Humans are driven by ideals, and they construct the political, economic, social, and artistic constructs to make them happen. For example, the US was built upon Enlightenment period ideals of (e.g., life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), so our country has one of the most inclusive college and university systems in the world, arguably to be a land of opportunity. Many of these colleges and universities (or individual projects within them) are funded by federal and state governments. You can see how ideals can really become the lifeblood of any given society.
Lastly, the artistic aspect is the manifestation of the idealistic aspect through artwork (remember you do not have to have a lot of material for this aspect in this assignment, but you will for the expert project). You can think of it as the idealistic aspects’ megaphone.
Example: In the 1960s in America, protest music was an overwhelming part of the artistic aspect of society, which in turn reflected the idealistic sentiments of the youth culture at the time.
Connection to other aspects: I’m sure you can think of some cringe-worthy examples of artwork (musical or otherwise) that has been created for propaganda purposes in some totalitarian regimes.
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What to do in this assignment:
There is a formal rubric attached to this module, to ensure fairness and to show my superiors that we have a culture of assessment, but here are some directions using informal language:
1) Pick a society that has faced oppression, either currently or during a specific time in the past. Remember that this is a world music course designed to expand your horizons, so try to pick a society you do not know much about. Here are some examples of societies or specific types of music in those societies (to better help you find material), but I encourage you to find something that appeals to you: Capoeira (from Brazil, created by enslaved people), Irish ballads (when facing oppression and land seizures from the English), Tibet (facing oppression from China), India (facing oppression from the English), Trinidad or other Caribbean countries (facing oppression from most of Western Europe, lots of socially conscious music sprang up from that). Remember that your required textbook for this class has some great examples.
2) Find information about that society from reputable sources. There are a lot of books on reserve for this course in Coe Library, so consider going to the front desk and leafing through. We live in the information age, so there are plenty of good resources online, but there are plenty of bad ones, too. Look for resources associated with universities (.edu addresses) or non-profit organizations (.org addresses). Oxford is the definitive publisher in this field. They have some online resources available, but they also have little books (with CDs) just like our required textbook. A list of those books is in the front part of our required textbook under “Global Music Series” and most if not all of them are in Coe. One note, Wikipedia is not a reputable source, but those sites often have links to reputable sources. It might be an OK way to start a search, but please do not cite a Wikipedia article.
3) Write a one-page introduction about how you will meet one or more of the first three global awareness objectives (earlier in this post) by the end of this paper.
4) Dedicate about a page and a half (sometimes more, sometimes less based on the society) and write what you now know about each of the five aspects of that particular society: political, economic, social, idealistic, and artistic (you do not have to emphasize this one too much). You can have those words as subheadings if you want to.
5) Write one to two paragraphs summarizing how you have met at least one of the first three Global Awareness outcomes (this can be similar to your introduction).
6) Create a page of references or works cited. I am not looking to give anyone a hard time about how you format these references, as long as they are consistent and they look good. Please do whatever format you do in your field (mine is APA, but we have a diversity of majors in this class).
