1. Handbook
  2. Subjects
  3. Topics in Ethnomusicology

Topics in Ethnomusicology (MUSI20217)

Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5On Campus (Southbank)

You’re viewing the 2026 Handbook:
Or view archived Handbooks

Overview

Availability
Semester 1 - On Campus
FeesLook up fees

This subject introduces students to one major research topic in the field of ethnomusicology. Considering a broad range of case studies from around the world, students learn how music researchers have approached, evaluated, and answered questions related to this topic across different cultural contexts and time periods.

The subject is especially designed for students considering honours or graduate research in music, as well as students in anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies. Topics may include “Music and Globalisation,” “Music and Multiculturalism,” “The Music Industry,” etc., as announced in advance.

 

2026 Topic: Music and Media.  

Can you imagine music today without television, recordings, radio, stereos, mp3s, computers, streaming, or cell phones? This subject explores ways technologies, industries, and corporations mediate music in our everyday lives. We will look at the histories of some of these technologies, how these technologies move around the world, and theories of media and technology. Throughout the subject, students will critically engage with an ethnomusicological approach to the study of music, technology, and culture that draws upon examples from traditional, popular, film, advertising, and Western art musics.   

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject students should be able to:

  • identify major perspectives and methods associated with contemporary topics in ethnomusicology;
  • compare how major topics in ethnomusicology have been applied to diverse cultural contexts around the world;
  • find and assess the secondary literature on a major issue in the study of music;
  • craft and answer a research question related to a major topic in ethnomusicology using secondary and tertiary sources in the discipline.

Generic skills

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  • apply independent critical though to unfamiliar challenges; 
  • respond openly and imaginatively to new ideas;
  • communicate effectively in a range of media to provide a basis for independent critical inquiry and researched-based writing;
  • demonstrate an informed understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity. 

Last updated: 11 November 2025