Music, Migration, and Memory

Catalog description

When people migrate, what travels with them? What stays behind? What elements of their cultures do they actively remember, and what do they hope to forget? How do migrants create or recreate a sense of home in conditions of displacement, and what stories do they tell about themselves? How do these stories confirm or contradict standard narratives of migration in mainstream journalism and scholarship? This experiential seminar will explore these questions through engagement with the dynamics of music-making among Syrian migrants in the UAE and Turkey. Students will learn the basics of Syrian Arab music performance and then engage in field research with Syrian musicians in Abu Dhabi and Istanbul, where students will inquire how Syrian musicians navigate life in a new land using both old and new sounds. To investigate how Syrian musicians “sound” home in new contexts, students will take field notes, document performance practice, interview artists and audiences, create sound maps, and compose multimedia presentations based on their field research. Class seminar discussions and experiential learning will be supplemented with guest lectures and performances. This course includes a regional academic seminar to Turkey. This course will be offered in June-Term 2025.