Università Roma Tre

Since teen-agers appeared after World War II, youth cultures have shown their independence from the adult world in a contrast that only in recent times seems to be weakening. With the advent of cultural studies, started in Great Britain in the ‘60s, sociologists and popular music scholars have been discussing such trends for their strong connotation in terms of style and music.
The course aims to provide students with the theoretical and methodological tools to analyse sense and meaning of youth cultures from their birth in the ‘50s until our days, being as they were (and are) in a conflicting entanglement with the mass media that amplify them and make them popular.
Beginning with the American and British scene, we will analyse how youth cultures manifested themselves, focusing in particular on the kinds of music they adopted. Attention will be given particularly to the Italian scene, deeply and for long marked by alternative music trends which, from the ‘60s onwards, found in singer-songwriters (“cantautori”), in rock and in rap music, their favoured way of communication.

Chambers Iain, Ritmi urbani, Meltemi, Sesto San Giovanni 2018.
Hebdige Dick, Sottocultura, Meltemi, Sesto San Giovanni 2017.
Mattioli Valerio, Superonda, Baldini & Castoldi, Milano 2016.
Zukar Paola, Rap. Una storia italiana, Baldini & Castoldi, Milano 2021.