Featured Course!
MUSI V2500
Tuesday and Thursday, 4:10-5:25PM
716 Hamilton
Ruth Rosenberg
As babies in the womb we learn to distinguish our mother's voice from all else.  In American culture we venerate the divas of the operatic stage, as well as the "material girls," "spice girls," and "video vixens" of  pop culture and MTV.  But history is also filled with women considered dangerous because of their voices, such as the sirens of Greek mythology, who lured sailors to their deaths with their beautiful songs. More recently, the voice has become a fundamental motif in feminist scholarship, associated with empowerment and protest.  In this class we take on the female voice as both sonorous object and metaphor, examining various cultural and historical contexts in which women’s voices (especially in song or poetry) have special meanings or functions. Each week we will address a different theme related to female “vocality,” with readings drawn from several fields, including anthropology, history, cultural and gender studies, literature, and ethnomusicology.