Initiatives

Afro-Caribbean Music Research Project (ACMRP)

DATES:

DESCRIPTION

Group Leader(s): Prof. Leonard Brown (l.brown@neu.edu) and Prof. Emmett Price (e.price@neu.edu)

The Afro-Caribbean Music Research Project (ACMRP), an initiative of the Department of African American Studies, is a five-week faculty-led program offering students the opportunity to experience and study Afro-Caribbean Music and Culture in the Caribbean. The site for the Summer 2012 will be the island of Grenada. Past research excursions have been to St. Croix, USVI (2009), Trinidad (2010) and Tobago (2011).

ACMRP will take up to 16 undergraduate students to the beautiful Caribbean island nation of Grenada for a five-week residency and learning experience in Afro-Caribbean music culture. The ACMRP rus from May 7, 2012 through June 11, 2012. All students will be enrolled in two four credit academic courses: 1. Afro-Caribbean Music Research (AFAM 4939) and 2. Field and Lab Methods for Researching Black Music (AFAM 4710). These courses cab be applied to majors in African American Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Music, International Affairs, Communication Studies and many other concentrations across the university.

Students will experience various aspects of the local music-culture through meeting and talking with local residents, live performances, lectures and field excursions. They will document their music-culture experiences and organize this knowledge using appropriate ethnomusicological approaches and strategies. At the end of the residency, they will present their findings to Grenada residents.

COURSES

AFAM 4710 Field & Lab Methods for Researching Black Music (On-site in Caribbean as Faculty-Led Dialogue) Course Objectives: This course is designed to expose and educate students to conceptual approaches and frameworks to accomplishing field research. The learned approaches and strategies will be used to develop a fundamental and effective understanding in how to approach research endeavors in Black/African based music traditions of the western hemisphere. This course provides opportunities to study and apply principals and practices of ethnography and ethnomusicology in the study of African based music cultures of the Caribbean. This is a rigorous course that will be engaging, exciting and challenging for students. Students will conduct a group research project that will include field research, analysis of data and presentation in written and oral formats.

AFAM 4939 AFRO-CARIBBEAN MUSIC RESEARCH PROECT (On-site in Caribbean as Faculty-Led Dialogue) Course Objectives: The goals of this course are: 1) to immerse students in a Caribbean society in order to participate in a dialogue with local politics, economics, history, social environments, educational systems, systems of faith and daily living through various lenses using music and culture as a fulcrum; 2) to provide students with a dynamic global experience that intersects with and enhances their academic studies and life experiences to date; 3) to empower students with a greater awareness and appreciation for systems of music and culture from the African Diaspora through research and study in the Caribbean.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Application details and instructions are available here, or visit the Office of International Study Programs website.

For more information contact:
Prof. Brown or Prof. Price