Course description

This course takes a selection of hit “songs of the summer” from the past fifty years as entry points into pivotal moments in U.S. history. Popular music not only reflects social issues; it also shapes public perception and at can fuel social change, from contexts ranging from the civil rights movement, to US imperialist projects, to the HIV/AIDs crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, movements like BlackLivesMatter and MeToo, and struggles for trans rights. (HC)

Summer 2024: Online course

Catherine M. Appert
Catherine M. Appert
Ethnomusicologist and associate professor of music, Cornell University