ATS2805 - Music, identity and place - 2019

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit




Organisational Unit

Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Adrian McNeil


Dr Adrian McNeil

Unit guides



  • Second semester 2019 (On-campus)


Twelve credit points of first-year Arts units.


This unit explores how notions of identity and place are constructed and negotiated through music. What is the role of music in producing ethnic, regional, national and even transnational identities? What can we learn about the politics of musical performance in diasporic contexts? How does music contribute to our identities as sexual and gendered beings? How is music used as a focus for discursive evocations of place? These and other questions are explored through a series of case studies that include the critical analysis of readings, musical examples and ethnographic films.


Upon completion of this unit, students are able to:

  1. Develop a plan for a music research project.
  2. Execute a music research project.
  3. Articulate selected theoretical perspectives relating to music, identity and place, and how these might pertain to analyses of music and music-related practices, including dance, theatre and ritual.


Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements


See also Unit timetable information

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study