UGS 303 Signature Course Music and Difference - Prof.

Seeman
Writing Assignment #3 Summary Paper
DUE FRI 3/7/15 to SpeedGrader/Canvas
Music and the Racialized Imagination
4-5 double-spaced, type-written pages (min. 1000 words)
Radano and Bohlman note that rather than a biological category, race is a social and historical category
applied to people on the basis of physical characteristics. The concept of race, as a construct
distinguishing one group of humans from another on the basis of shared biological appearances, emerges
from a legacy of human-difference making that traces across humanity (Radano and Bohlman 2000, 10).
From this perspective, we can interrogate the role of music in supporting ideas about human difference.
How is music used or has music been used to create ideas about human difference?
This paper assignment asks you summarize a working definition of race using citations and to propose a
hypothesis regarding the relationship between race and music in your first paragraph. In your 2nd-4th or 5th
paragraph, draw from THREE of the following sources: Radio lab; Radano and Bohlman; Guthrie; Lott;
Lee; Ransom Center minstrel collection to explore the ways that different authors portray race in relation
to music. In the final paragraph, discuss the relationship between racialized identities and your musical
genre, and whether music shaped racialized identities or racialized identities shape music in your case.
NOTE: You MUST provide a definition of race and the source for that definition.
As before, use the following citations format.
CITATIONS FORMAT: Use Citations in 2 places:
1) as a parenthetical insert in the body of the text to identify the source of the information.
You must use citations for direct quotes AND paraphrased information.
For in-text citation, use the last name of your consultant, and date.
2) AND cite at the end in alphabetical order under Sources Cited.
NOTE: If you use an internet source, you must include the entire URL that you used and the date
that you accessed it.