Short Course Description
This is the first academic course of its kind in Israel, dedicated to gender, sexualities and queerness in the music of Africa and the Middle East.
The course will examine the connection between music, culture, society and politics in the Middle East and Africa, from a gender and LGBTQ+ perspective. We will enlighten and discuss both queer elements in the traditions and history of the different cultural groups and spaces, as well as current musical spaces and LGBTQ+ communities.
The course is inter-disciplinary incorporating texts and ideas from various disciplines: African and Middle East studies, Ethnomusicology, cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies and queer studies.
Some of the course's topics:
1. Understanding gender and sexualities in the African and Middle Eastern context
2. Religion, music and gender
3. Gender and sexualities in relation to trance and spirit possession in African and Afro-Diasporic religions.
4. Women's songs and musicmaking in different traditions in Africa and the Middle East
5. Queer as an aesthetic and structural context in African and Middle Eastern musical
cultures
6. LGBTQ+ artists and expressions in traditional and in contemporary music scenes in Africa and the
Middle East.
7. Gender, sexuality and queerness in Mizrahi/Mediterranean music in Israel
Full Syllabus
