Interdisciplinary Studies

Examples of courses offered at UC Santa Barbara that have been used in the past to meet this requirement include:

BL ST 142. Music in African-American Cultures: U.S.A.
Introduction to the music of African-Americans in the U.S.A. from the antebellum era to the present, including folk, religious, popular, and classical music forms. The sociology of Black music in America forms the basis for lectures and discussions.

BL ST 143. Hip-Hop
Designed to introduce students to the history and contemporary influence of hip hop, including rap music, break dancing, graffiti, Bboying, djing, fashion, global marketing, etc. Traces the history of hip hop from its early emergence in the Bronx in the 1970s to its emergence as the global soundtrack of the 21st century. Students will also study the particular urban geographies of hip hop culture and its critique of social, political, and economic conditions of Black life.

BL ST 152. Music of the African Diaspora
A survey of select African derived musical traditions from the Caribbean, North and South America, and Africa.

BL ST 153. Black Popular Music in America
A critical survey of African-American popular styles since 1950. The course is style specific but also addresses the music's relationship to other aspects of popular culture.

CH ST 156. Afro-Latina/o Diasporic Performance
Offers an introduction to performance practices rooted in the African diaspora of the Americas focusing on the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Interrogates identity articulation in dance, music, literature, visual art, and theatrical texts. Examine how performers negotiate race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality with attention to what constitutes ?performance.? Employing transnational frameworks, explore how these performances have historically functioned and continue to inspire social transformation and the recovery of shared histories of Afro-Latina/o diasporas.

CH ST 162. Indigenous-Xican Cinema Studies: Myth/Music/Film & Popular Culture
Low cost digital tools have created a revolution in video. Course explores creative approaches to practical techniques of independent digital video production. Students establish a production strategy by employing "guerrilla tactics" for creative and unconventional uses of digital machineries.

FAMST 148AAZZ. Special Topics in Film Aesthetics
Exploration in detail, of a single aspect of the film experience in relation to aesthetic and analytical issues. Topics may include the sound track, camera movement, mise-en- scene, color, music, widescreen, acting, narrative, time, art design, editing.

FAMST 184. Film Music
Examines the musical score as an integral structural element of cinema. topics include the model of "silent" cinema; the theoretical basis of soundand image synchronicity; the narrative functions of film music; and contemporary development of the film score.

GER 117. Special Topics in German Culture
In-depth study of special topics important for an understanding of German culture, drawing on a broad range of print and visual media, music and architecture. Topics will vary by instructor and may include: "Violence and Society", "Activist Cultures," "Sports and Nationalism," "Dissident Voices," "The politics of music," "Theater in German speaking countries." Taught in German.

ITAL 123X. Italian Opera
Studies Italian operas, from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Students learn to appreciate these musical masterpieces as literary works as well, through analyzing plots, studying the librettos, and listening to the music. In English.

PORT 105 - Survey of Portuguese Literature
In this course, we will read poems, short-stories and novels by Portuguese writers from the Medieval Age up to the present. Through readings and projects, we will explore major themes central to Portuguese historical experience. Along the way, we will also look at films, music and visual arts, engaging in inter-artistic and cross-cultural dialogues.

PORT 183W - Postcolonial Lusophone Africa
Explores contemporary cultural production in Portuguese-speaking Africa, examining contemporary films, music and literature. We examine a variety of selected literary, historical and political texts that endorse a multidisciplinary approach to provide a better understanding of post-colonial identities and discuss ways of promoting equity and culturally responsive practices that contribute to shaping an antiracist future.  

RG ST 110M. Religion and Music in Cuba  
The story of Cuba's religious formations through their musical genres. Explores the relationship between dance, spirit possession, and mythology, as well as the construction of nation, race, and gender/sexuality through musical performance. Among the music to be considered is that of an all-male secret society (Abakuá); the initiatory traditions of Lucumí and Palo Monte; Haitian Tumba Francesa; and Havana-based hip-hop. Proficiency in Spanish language is not a prerequisite but does enhance understanding of the course materials.  

Please consult the course catalog, or the department offering the course for upcoming offerings, questions, and course prerequisites.