Lecturer in charge: Professor Carolyn Cooper [Room 37 - New Arts Block]

The course introduces students to fundamental issues in the study of poetry, providing them with the basic tools and vocabulary of literary analysis. Focusing on the critique of reggae lyrics as poetry, the course traces themes and poetic techniques in selected song-texts. In addition, students are required to pay attention to the socio-historical context out of which the music emerges from its hybrid origins in both Jamaican folk forms and imported rhythm and blues. The dancehall/ragga derivatives of 'classic' reggae are also included. The course begins with a survey of the development of reggae music, employing the four-phase structure of the Island Records' compilation Tougher Than Tough: The Story of Jamaican Music , which documents the period 1958-94. Post-1994 developments in the genre are taken into account. The course then proceeds to analyze in detail representative song-texts from the body of work of at least five major song writers/performers such as Burning Spear, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, the I-Three, Jimmy Cliff, Third World, Steel Pulse, Lady Saw and Buju Banton.

Prerequisite: None

Instruction: Two lectures and one tutorial per week

Assessment: One 3,000-word research paper 30%
Two tutorial presentations 10%
Final 2-hour exam 60%

`Prescribed Texts:

Barrow, Steve & Peter Dalton. The Rough Guide to Reggae (Rough Guides, 2001)
Tougher Than Tough: The Story of Jamaican Music (Island Records, 1993, Compact Discs)

Highly Recommended Texts:

Cooper, Carolyn. Sound Clash (Palgrave Macmillan)
Prahlad, Swami. Reggae Wisdom: Proverbs in Jamaican Music (Univ. Press of Mississippi )