"We Were Punk First:" The Cultural Politics of Contemporary Indigenous Popular Music
Framed by the increasing visibility and reception of Indigenous writers, filmmakers, scholars, and artists who over the past decade have come to reclaim and transform Indigeneous presence in Canadian and American popular culture, this course will dive into the cultural politics of contemporary Indigenous popular music. Like all forms of cultural expression, popular music unfolds through a complex interplay of history, politics, aesthetics, reception, and power, playing a central role in the formation and transformation of cultural identities over time. Featuring genres and styles that include hip hop, classical music, indie rock, electronica, and punk rock, we will look at award-winning bands and artists such as Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik), Tanya Tagaq (Inuit), Snotty Nose Rez Kids (Haisla), Black Belt Eagle Scout (Swinomish/Iñupiaq), The Halluci-Nation (Mohawk and Cayuga), and Dead Pioneers (Pyramid Lake Paiute), all of whom in different ways center Indigenous resistance, healing, and flourishing in the present against ongoing colonial imaginaries shaped by anachronistic, racist, and disempowering stereotypes. Many of the artists introduced in this course explicitly confront these stereotypes and remediate the traumatic legacies of settler-colonial oppression and forced assimilation, while revitalizing cultural traditions, and embodying the hybrid realities of contemporary Indigenous life. Drawing on insights in Indigenous Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Affect Studies, and Postcolonial Studies, we will follow an intermedial approach that considers music and lyrics alongside music videos, album art, and other paratextual and contextual material.
This course will include an (optional) field trip to the Karl-May Museum in Radebeul on October 17 and an in-person visit by Gregg Deal, a multimodal Indigenous artist and singer of the celebrated punkrock band Dead Pioneers in January.
Framed by the increasing visibility and reception of Indigenous writers, filmmakers, scholars, and artists who over the past decade have come to reclaim and transform Indigeneous presence in Canadian and American popular culture, this course will dive into the cultural politics of contemporary Indigenous popular music. Like all forms of cultural expression, popular music unfolds through a complex interplay of history, politics, aesthetics, reception, and power, playing a central role in the formation and transformation of cultural identities over time. Featuring genres and styles that include hip hop, classical music, indie rock, electronica, and punk rock, we will look at award-winning bands and artists such as Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik), Tanya Tagaq (Inuit), Snotty Nose Rez Kids (Haisla), Black Belt Eagle Scout (Swinomish/Iñupiaq), The Halluci-Nation (Mohawk and Cayuga), and Dead Pioneers (Pyramid Lake Paiute), all of whom in different ways center Indigenous resistance, healing, and flourishing in the present against ongoing colonial imaginaries shaped by anachronistic, racist, and disempowering stereotypes. Many of the artists introduced in this course explicitly confront these stereotypes and remediate the traumatic legacies of settler-colonial oppression and forced assimilation, while revitalizing cultural traditions, and embodying the hybrid realities of contemporary Indigenous life. Drawing on insights in Indigenous Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Affect Studies, and Postcolonial Studies, we will follow an intermedial approach that considers music and lyrics alongside music videos, album art, and other paratextual and contextual material.
This course will include an (optional) field trip to the Karl-May Museum in Radebeul on October 17 and an in-person visit by Gregg Deal, a multimodal Indigenous artist and singer of the celebrated punkrock band Dead Pioneers in January.