Popular music and activism

Content

This module discusses and analyses the relations between popular music and activism. Indicative content includes protest music, popular music and populism, music used by activist movements, music and social change, artists as activists in their music and life, activism aiming to change the music industry, and humour and satire as tools of activism in popular music.  

Work from cultural theory, gender theory and popular music studies are drawn upon in the module. Theoretical and methodological perspectives from these three fields are explained. Further, within the module several strategies for social change are covered, and their application to popular music. The musical traditions and artists introduced in the course are from a variety of countries and popular music genres.

The course is an online course. It requires a computer and internet access.

Learning outcomes

After the course, students will be able to: ….

• compare and analyze political activism in popular music and popular music’s role in political activism.
• explain and discuss central questions and problems from popular music studies related to politics and activism.
• develop strategies for social change in popular music and presents them during the course.
• evaluate and critically assess presented theory and methods in an essay.   

Programme

The course is planned to make it possible for students to follow it, even though you have other courses running in parallel.

The course is fully online and starts on the 11th of September and ends on the 31st of October 2025. The course has seven online meetings. All contain discussion seminars and require the students to participate. Five of them also contain 45-minute lectures.

In parallel, the students work with their projects; they can plan this to work with their own schedules.

Assessment

Participation in all seven discussion seminars and the completion of one larger assignment:

For this course, students will plan, execute, present and reflect upon a popular music (activist) intervention related to a self-chosen Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) either in a group or individually. For this, students will follow the 5 steps below.

Choose a SDG; make the SDG concrete and realistic for their own context. Think about how a popular music-related (activist) intervention in the students’ own (local/online) living environment could help contribute to the goal. The form of intervention may vary from a protest song, an information campaign, a presentation, an artistic intervention, or any other form (see links and literature from week 1 and 2 for inspiration). The form of the intervention is up to the group/student, but interventions should be realistic, must be safe, executed and documented. We recommend that the aim has personal meaning to the students.

1. Prepare: You submit a written intervention plan (pass/fail)
   In week 3 (22nd of September) the group/individual will write and submit a written plan (sent at 12.00 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for their intervention ideas. This plan will be 1000 words, and be as concrete as possible. It should contain a description of the SDG, its local/concrete application, the idea behind the chosen form of intervention, and the actual plan for the intervention (Why? What? How? When? Where?). This plan will receive peer-feedback during the session in week 3 (25th of September). Instructions about peer-feedback division and format will be sent out in the afternoon of 22nd of September.​​​​​​​
2. Review: Discuss and give feedback on intervention plans (pass/fail)
   Each group will prepare and provide detailed feedback on one proposal and questions on one other proposal in seminar session 3. Instructions sent out on the 22nd of September.
3. Do: After the peer-feedback session, you execute and document your intervention.
4. Present: In week 7 of the course, students present their experiences with executing the intervention. The presentation is 10minutes, briefly(!) summarizes your intervention, reflect upon the experience and presents first ideas for how to frame and reflect upon the intervention by incorporating the theories discussed in the course.
5. Write: On the 31st of October students submit an individual academic paper, in which they discuss and critically reflect upon their intervention from a theoretical point of view.

Lecturers

• Ann-Marie Hanlon, College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies, University of Galway
• Ann Werner, Dept of Musicology, Uppsala University
• Joanna Zienkiewicz, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen

Course dates

Online: Teaching on six Thursdays 10.30-12.30 (CET) starting on the 11^th of September 2025. Final seminar on October 23 from 10.00-13.00. These dates might slightly change. Completion of essay by 31^st of October.

Entry requirements: Bachelor's degree from an internationally recognised university. Proficiency in English equivalent to the general entry requirements for first-cycle (Bachelor's level) studies.

Students from all ENLIGHT partner universities are eligible to participate. Students will be selected at each of these universities separately. Students interested in the course need to apply via their home university. They should contact their faculty or programme to verify whether it can fit in their curriculum and to ensure academic recognition of the credits obtained. The home university will select the permitted number of students, inform the students as soon as possible, and then send these names to the host institution. Unsuccessful students will be placed on a waiting list and may get a place, if other universities do not use all their allocated places. Waiting lists are encouraged.

Please select your home university below and contact your ENLIGHT coordinator for further information on the application process or consult the linked information.

• University of the Basque Country: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Bern: Application instructions for students at the University of Bern
• University of Bordeaux: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Comenius University Bratislava: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Galway: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Ghent University:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Groningen: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Göttingen:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Tartu: Application instructions for students at the University of Tartu
• Uppsala University: Application instructions for students at Uppsala University.

Prof. Ann Werner, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.