Module manager: Stan Erraught
Email: s.erraught@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| MUS2133 | Music and Politics |
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. Show creative initiative in synthesising academic knowledge and skills from music and related disciplines.
2. Interrogate and critique methodologies used in the study of music and politics.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
3. Show critical judgement in the selection and use of relevant research, practice and scholarship.
4. Communicate ideas in precise, organised and accessible 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 – which proposes and justifies a title for the final assessment, an associated research question, and a proposed choice of sources and methodology–will be provided before or within the seminar, helping to build skills in preparation for the final assignment. This feedback will be provided individually through Minerva. As at level 2, lectures will incorporate seminar elements (Q&A and group work) that engage students directly with aspects of source selection, critique and methodology.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Written Assignment | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
The assignment may use any discursive format including e.g. a podcast or multimedia essay (incorporating online video or audio examples).
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 03/03/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team