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Scholars Commons Playlists Explore Democracy

By John Arbuckle

Square collage of four album covers, clockwise from top left: Untitled (Black Is), by SAULT; If I Had A Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle, by Pete Seeger; Impeach The President, by The Honey Drippers; and Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), by Digable Planets.

The College of Arts and Sciences' Themester 2020: Democracy is a multifaceted exploration of democracy. Themester 2020 takes a hard look at the contemporary issues surrounding democracy, as well as the strengths and weaknesses behind the democratic process. It seeks to recognize the many ways in which the concept of democracy is interpreted, and how the concept shapes culture.

In the spirit of Themester 2020, the Wells Library Scholars' Commons has compiled a series of playlists to explore "the ideas, concerns, and limitations of democracy, both nationally and internationally." These playlists were thoughtfully put together by librarian Nicholae Cline and library science student Brett Hoffman. 

 

Through these songs, we consider and reflect not only on how democracy has been imagined and implemented across time, and on the ways in which groups across the globe have championed the promise of equality and justice under democratic systems, but also how democracies have fallen short of the very ideals that underpin them (and how they've been held accountable for those failures).

Nicholae Cline and Brett Hoffman

You can access the playlists on Spotify via the links below, and read more about them in IU Libraries' 2020 United States Election guide:

 

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