This is the syllabus I’ve designed for my Fall 2019 undergraduate-level Introduction to Film course. I focused the course as a genre study of American horror films. I want my students to be able to consider the socio-political contexts of popular films and to detect and explain the arguments and worldviews produced by film.

From the 2007 remake of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games to Adam Robitel’s Escape Room (2019), the survival game has become a recurring sub-genre of American horror cinema in the last twenty years; however, its haunting presence has yet to be fully analyzed.

The American survival game horror film is uniquely able to render neoliberal con…[Read more]

Based on ethnographic research that is part of a larger project on the role of music and sound among migrant Moroccan men in Italy, this article focuses
on ‘L-ḥərraga’, a song that narrates the voyage and the experience of undocumented migration that ends with the tragic death of a young
Moroccan man crossing the Mediterranean. Through ‘L-ḥər…[Read more]

Short biographies, with score and recordings information, of composers of concert spirituals for solo voice. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Resources specifically about Negro spirituals or that reference performers, composers or other information related to spirituals. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Sample of singers, arranged by voice type, and their recordings of concert spirituals. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Concert spirituals classified by category with scriptural reference(s) and entry in musical anthologies. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Availability of Spiritual Music Scores: print publishers, online databases and publishers, self-publishing composers, online resellers, selected musical scores: compilations containing concert spirituals for solo voice. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Selection of recordings recommended for those beginning a collection of concert spirituals for solo voice. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

‘L-ʿalwa’, a sung poem whose text recounts the pilgrimage to a saint’s shrine in Morocco, is celebrated for its ability to convey images and emotions stirred up by the sacred journey. As part of the repertory of ʿaita—a genre of sung poetry from the Moroccan plains and plateaus traditionally performed by professional female singer-danc…[Read more]

ʿAiṭa–a genre of sung poetry from the Moroccan Atlantic Plains and its adjacent territories—is regarded as the quintessential expression of the identity of the region. If it is possible to analyse the poetic language of ʿaiṭa in order to understand its significance among these populations, it is also critical to examine how the affective power of…[Read more]

Panorama of scholarly work on women and music in Morocco

The article explores why a particular group of Moroccan musicians conceives of different performances of a sung poem titled “Kharbusha” as unchanging despite variables arising from the dynamics of performance practices. To this end, I explore the seeming discrepancy between discourses about “Kharbusha” and its performance, and what this discrep…[Read more]

The article examines Moroccan professional female singer-dancers (shikhat) in relation to other professional female performers . An analysis of the role that women have as entertainers, and in particular of their behavior in the course of performance, will show how they affect the status of each class of performers. Sketching a panorama of the…[Read more]

The article examines Moroccan professional female singer-dancers (shikhat) in relation to other professional female performers . An analysis of the role that women have as entertainers, and in particular of their behavior in the course of performance, will show how they affect the status of each class of performers. Sketching a panorama of the…[Read more]

This essay explores Michelangelo Antonioni’s “L’Avventura” from a Marxist perspective, including its depiction of the Italian bourgeoisie of “il boom” era of the 1950s and 1960s. Numerous frame enlargements are used to substantiate the claim that even the film’s style contributes to its representations of socioeconomic class.

This article investigates the representation of Italian Americans in classical and contemporary Hollywood cinema, expanding the research originally conducted by noted scholar Mirella Affron.

This article compares and contrasts two films that take place in Japan but that were directed by French and American directors. Their “outsider perspective” is explored in terms of their respective films’ themes, characters, and cinematic styles.

This is a review/analysis of the Antonioni film IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN (1982), occasioned by its DVD release by the Criterion Collection.

American college football features an enormous amount of music woven into the fabric of the event, with selections accompanying approximately two-thirds of a game’s plays. Musical selections are controlled by a number of forces, including audio and video technicians, university marketing departments, financial sponsors, and wind bands. These b…[Read more]