Music related to Linguistics & Lx-Anthro?

[Rachel Flamenbaum]

What about Fela Kuti's conscious use of Nigerian Pidgin (especially as his
lyrics became more political) as an example of linguistic solidarity and the
critical role of language in the construction of identity and
sociolinguistic boundaries? (Much like the Missing Persons suggestion, just
about any Fela Kuti song may also lead to uncontrollable dancing!) "Swegbe
and Pako" off the album Afrodisiac is a personal favorite.


Rachel Flamenbaum
Pre-candidate, Linguistic Anthropology
University of California, Los Angeles


On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Puninder Singh Jaitla <punnu at umich.edu>wrote:

> "Words" my Missing Persons is a great song. Watch out, it's pretty
> upbeat--kids may begin to dance uncontrollably. They also have a cool song
> called "Windows" which would be good for a lecture on framing.
>
> "Talking in Your Sleep" by the Romantics and "More Than Words" by Extreme
> are two other possibilities.
>
> Punnu Jaitla
> PhD pre-candidate in Anthropology
> University of Michigan
>
>
>
> Quoting Richard J Senghas <Richard.Senghas at SONOMA.EDU>:
>
>  Hey LingAnthers,
>>
>> I am looking for music (popular, obscure, whatever) that plays with
>> linguistic (& especially anthropological) topics.
>>
>> I am now teaching a somewhat large (~70 students) undergraduate, lower
>> division Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology course.  It hits us at that
>> just-before-and-going-into dinner hour, when students, even those interested
>> in the topics, begin to fade as their blood sugar-levels drop, and the
>> daylight begins to fade (especially now).  When I taught my Intro to
>> Cultural Anthro course, I found that playing relevant, especially upbeat,
>> music just before class started helped up the energy for the class session,
>> and I would like to use this trick again in this course.  I also found that
>> many of the students started to pick up on the anthropological themes I
>> planted in these selections.  By the end of the semester, students started
>> asking me for my sources, often asking me if they had indeed figured out the
>> thematic connections.  (In a very real sense, this became a
>> not-grade-related extra credit opportunity.)
>>
>> I plan to start with some more obvious choices (e.g., Laurie Anderson's
>> "Language is a Virus" from her "Home of the Brave" album), but I'm looking
>> for other pieces for later this semester.  Do you have any tracks you'd
>> recommend?  If the topic is obscure, I wouldn't mind being given hints at
>> the reason for your choices, though we could make it a game for this list if
>> you choose to respond on-list.  And energetic music is preferred; we're
>> looking to juice them up!
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> -RJS
>> ======================================================================
>> Richard J. Senghas, Professor            | Sonoma State University
>> Department of Anthropology               | 1801 East Cotati Avenue
>> Human Development Program                | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
>> Richard.Senghas[at]sonoma.edu            | 707-664-3920 (fax)
>>
>>
>>
>>