Ethnomusicology, Study Abroad and the Urban Perspective: The Case of Ghana
Start Date
9-8-2010 1:30 PM
End Date
9-8-2010 3:00 PM
Description
Through the lens of SIT Study Abroad’s Ghana: Urban Ethnomusicology program, this paper discusses two important aspects of urban-centered study abroad programs, thematically and spatially, in Africa. First, the city functions as an important location in African music studies for young undergraduates as it challenges preconceptions and theoretical orientations that young American students often carry with them to the continent. Music and the performing arts provide important data to students about the social, cultural, political, economic and other processes that shape and are shaped by urbanization and the city. Second, the SITSA model provides students with not only the intellectual engagement with African and urban music studies, but its experiential model, the core of SITSA pedagogical approach, facilitates a visceral, embodied and experience-based learning environment as well.
Ethnomusicology, Study Abroad and the Urban Perspective: The Case of Ghana
Through the lens of SIT Study Abroad’s Ghana: Urban Ethnomusicology program, this paper discusses two important aspects of urban-centered study abroad programs, thematically and spatially, in Africa. First, the city functions as an important location in African music studies for young undergraduates as it challenges preconceptions and theoretical orientations that young American students often carry with them to the continent. Music and the performing arts provide important data to students about the social, cultural, political, economic and other processes that shape and are shaped by urbanization and the city. Second, the SITSA model provides students with not only the intellectual engagement with African and urban music studies, but its experiential model, the core of SITSA pedagogical approach, facilitates a visceral, embodied and experience-based learning environment as well.