MUS41070

Learning Outcomes:

The general aim of the course is to give students the skills and tools to conduct research in ethnomusicology. While the course focuses on key foundational theories, methods and methodologies that are used in the subject area, it also seeks to help students develop a more reflexive attitude towards Ethnomusicology as an inter-disciplinary field. The methods that are discussed are not exhaustive, but students will be exposed to the benefits and limitations of each method. By the end of the course, students will have developed a critical understanding of ethnomusicology's theoretical underpinnings and methodologies, as well as the contemporary issues that continue to shape the discipline. On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
•Demonstrate an understanding of ethnomusicology's historical context and development.
•Critically assess the use of theory and method in ethnomusicology.
•Understand the theoretical body of knowledge that underpins ethnomusicology as a disciplinary field.
•Discuss and critically evaluate contemporary issues in ethnomusicology
•Develop ethnomusicological research methods to understand music as cultural practice.
•Contribute to a discussion on the nature of musical scholarship and enquiry into post-colonialism, decoloniality, modernity, representation and identity to cultural practices and expressions.

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


 

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Teaching and learning in this module will combine short lectures, seminar discussion, guided listening, close reading, student presentations, peer review, and reflective activities. Lectures will introduce key histories, theories, methods, and debates in ethnomusicology, while in-class seminar and group discussions will allow students to critically engage with concepts such as music as culture, representation, identity, postcolonialism, decoloniality, globalization, fieldwork, intersectionality, and applied practice. Active learning activities, including listening exercises, fieldwork planning, methodological reflection, and peer exchange, will support students in developing the practical and critical skills needed for ethnomusicological research. Students will be encouraged to connect theory with musical examples, reflect on their own positions as listeners and researchers, and build their assessments cumulatively through discussion, feedback, and independent inquiry.

Students may use AI only for limited support in assessment planning and technical review. This includes interpreting the assessment prompt, brainstorming initial ideas, scoping possible research directions, outlining, checking spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and aligning a bibliography or Works Cited with a required citation style. AI must not be used to generate, rewrite, or refine the substantive content, argument, analysis, fieldwork interpretation, or critical discussion of the assessment; the main intellectual work must be authored by the student. Any use of AI must be acknowledged in a brief AI Use Statement included at the end of the assessment, specifying what tool was used, for what purpose, and exactly where in the assignment it was used, for example: “AI was used to check grammar in the introduction” or “AI was used to format the Works Cited page in MLA style.” Students are responsible for checking the accuracy of any AI-assisted output and remain fully accountable for the final submitted work.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be structured as a cumulative and developmental process that supports students as they move from critical listening and reflexive positioning, to ethnographic method, and finally to a sustained research output. Students will receive formative feedback before summative assessment through various means. These feedback opportunities are designed to help students clarify their ideas, strengthen their methodological choices, and refine the relationship between theory, evidence, and analysis before final submission. Peer review activities will allow students to test emerging arguments, share methodological and ethical challenges, and learn from one another’s approaches to ethnomusicological research. Following each graded assessment, students will receive individual written feedback addressing conceptual understanding, critical engagement, methodological reflection, structure, academic writing, and areas for further development. Because each assessment builds toward the next, students will be expected to use feedback from earlier tasks to strengthen the intellectual, methodological, ethical, and analytical quality of subsequent work, culminating in the final research project.

Aubert, Laurent. The Music of the Other: New Challenges for Ethnomusicology in a Global Age. Translated by Carla Ribeiro, foreword by Anthony Seeger, Ashgate, 2007.
Barz, Gregory F., and Timothy J. Cooley, editors. Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology. 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2008.
Blacking, John. How Musical Is Man? University of Washington Press, 1973.
Bohlman, Philip V. World Music: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2002.
Born, Georgina, and David Hesmondhalgh, editors. Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music. University of California Press, 2000.
Burnim, Mellonee V., and Portia K. Maultsby, editors. African American Music: An Introduction. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2015.
Cook, Nicholas. Music: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 1998.
Garcia-Mispireta, Luis Manuel. Together, Somehow: Music, Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor. Duke UP, 2023.
McAuley, Tomás, Nanette Nielsen, Jerrold Levinson, and Ariana Phillips-Hutton, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy. Oxford UP, 2020.
McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. University of Minnesota Press, 1991.
Merriam, Alan P. The Anthropology of Music. Northwestern University Press, 1964.
Monson, Ingrid. Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction. University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Morrison, Matthew D. Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States. University of California Press, 2024.
Nettl, Bruno. The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-Three Discussions. 3rd ed., University of Illinois Press, 2015.
Radano, Ronald, and Philip V. Bohlman, editors. Music and the Racial Imagination. University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Redmond, Shana L. Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora. New York UP, 2014.
Robinson, Dylan. Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies. University of Minnesota Press, 2020.
Seeger, Anthony. Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People. Cambridge UP, 1987.
Small, Christopher. Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Wesleyan University Press, 1998.
Taylor, Timothy D. Beyond Exoticism: Western Music and the World. Duke UP, 2007.
Thurman, Kira. Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Cornell UP, 2021.
Tomlinson, Gary. The Singing of the New World: Indigenous Voice in the Era of European Contact. Cambridge UP, 2007.
Young, Bell, and Helen Rees, editors. Understanding Charles Seeger, Pioneer in American Musicology. University of Illinois Press, 1999.
Young, Robert J. C. Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2003.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.