Module manager: Stan Erraught
Email: s.erraught@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| MUS3133 | Music and Politics |
MUSS2125
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Music and politics have long and intertwined histories, with music’s political dimensions including not only activism, censorship, or state and religious patronage but definitions of genre and ‘the popular’, and the impact of racial, sexual and gender inequality. On this module you will analyse the often-complex relationship between music and politics in critical contexts relating to staff specialisms. You will draw on relevant methodologies to critique music and politics within specific social and cultural settings, and explore the issues and challenges that arise from their intersection. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
This module aims to develop your capability to engage critically with musicological sources to examine the connections between music and politics. You will learn to apply relevant methodologies to appraise both theories and practical realisations of music’s political aspects, and situate music, politics and their intersection within their social, critical and analytical contexts.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Situate music and politics with respect to a range of analytical contexts and critical perspectives.
2. Analyse connections between theories and practices of both music and politics.
3. Apply a range of appropriate methodologies to the study of music and politics.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Analyse sources to appraise, debate and defend scholarly arguments
5. Communicate ideas in clear and structured ways.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 8 | 2 | 16 |
| Seminar | 1 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Private study hours | 182.5 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 17.5 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Formative feedback on a preparatory task to the summative coursework assessment – which may take the form of a literature review, abstract or other similar task as appropriate to the form of the final assessment – will be provided before or within the seminar, helping to build skills (especially SLO4 and 5). This feedback may be provided in plenary form, with opportunities for individualized follow-up feedback via email or drop-in hours extended to students who wish to take advantage of it. It is anticipated that, rather than being ‘accompanied’ by ‘set readings’, lectures will incorporate seminar elements (Q&A and group work) that engage students directly with texts, appropriate reading strategies and literature search approaches, and allow them to gain a clearer sense of the effectiveness of their reading and research.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Written Assignment | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 14/02/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team