2009 Fall AAAS 199S-07
Bulletin Course Description Seminar version of African and African American Studies 199. Topics vary from semester to semester. Instructor: Staff
(Instructor named in bulletin description above may not be current. For current instructor, see listing below.)
Title RHYTHM AND (AUTO) BIOGRAPHY Department AAAS Course Number 2009 Fall 199S Section Number 07 Primary Instructor Neal,Mark A Prerequisites
Synopsis of course content
This course will examine the autobiographies and biographies of musicians and artists who function within black musical idioms, such as jazz, soul and
contemporary R&B. In addition the course will explore issues of celebrity, class, cultural production, so-called white appropriation, gender, sexuality and politics in relation to the aforementioned musical idioms, while also
interrogating the role of the marketplace in the construction of essentialized notions of black expression.
Textbooks
Possible texts:
If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday, Farah Jasmine Griffin
Shout, Sister Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer, Sister Rosetta Thorpe by Gayle Wald
I Got Thunder: Black Women Song Writers and Their Craft by LaShonda Barnett
I Put A Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone by Nina Simone
Miles: the Autobiography, Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe
Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves & Demons of Marvin Gaye, Michael Eric Dyson
Take Me to the River by Al Green (As Told to David Seay)
The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco by Joshua Gamson
Winners Have Yet to Be Announced: A Song for Donny Hathaway by Ed Pavlic
