Popular Music and Literature in the 1960s

The history of the United States during the decade of the 1960s encompasses a complex mix of social movements including the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement, youth rebellion and youth culture, queer rights and the women's movement. During that era musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Janis Joplin, to name but a few, pursued similarly varied aesthetic experiments and social concerns, creating a great artistic legacy.

The definitive cultural history of the 1960s has still to be written. All too often, the decade is simply romanticized or vilified. Our goal in this program will be to study the music and culture of this controversial decade via meaningful, critical intellectual work. Through workshops in music, literature and film analysis, we will learn to think and write critically about artworks in those genres. Each member of the program will pursue a research project examining artists and artworks from that era, placing them in meaningful cultural contexts. Students will present their research work in progress to their peers for criticism and comment, and complete major research papers.

No previous formal training in music, film, African-American, American or cultural studies is expected. However, students must be prepared for intellectual study and have established interests in one of these areas.