NAIS 30.18 Native Indians Who Rock the World: Native American, First Nations, & Indigenous Contemporary Music
This lecture, listening, and discussion course introduces Native American, First Nations, and Indigenous contemporary music. We will begin with an examination of how the roots of contemporary Native music were founded in Indian boarding schools. We will then explore how Native music gained momentum and recognition in the 1960s and 1970 and focus on some of the most popular Native American, First Nations, and Indigenous musicians and bands today. Students will be introduced to and learn about critical issues facing Native American/First Nations/Indigenous peoples, including cultural identity and language survival, poverty, suicide prevention, missing and murdered Indigenous women, the protection of the environment and sacred sites. We will give attention to how Native musicians provide a platform for raising awareness about those issues through their music.