The Cultural Work of Country Music “I like all kinds of music...except country.”  Arguably, aversion to American country music often tracks with class- and race-based assumptions about both makers and consumers of this genre.  In this course we will challenge those views while studying the history of the form.  Balancing our consideration of the big picture with case studies of performers like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and The Chicks, we will explore what types of music the “country” tag comprises; some of the major themes and motifs associated with the form; the Black and White roots of country music; and the politicization of the music and its performers throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.  Source materials for the course will include Bill Malone’s Country Music, USA; Ken Burn’s Country Music documentary; Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity, and A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry.

Imagining Rural America Although many Americans equate “rural” with whiteness, political conservatism, and poverty, the realities and representations of rural life have always been complicated those notions. Using methodologies from geography, cultural history, folklore, and literary criticism, and privileging lenses of race, class, and gender, we will explore these complexities by analyzing novels, paintings, photographs, moving images, and music against the histories of Appalachia, the Rust Belt, the Dust Bowl, and New England. Texts may include Richard Wright’s Twelve Million Black Voices, The Grapes of Wrath (novel and film), paintings of Thomas Hart Benton and Edward Hopper, Winter’s Bone, O Brother Where Art Thou?/, and the music of John Prine and Steve Earle.

Music and Social Power in American Culture Although many people associate the idea of “protest songs” primarily with the countercultural upheaval of the 1960s, popular music’s connection to cultural politics is much more complicated. In this course we will explore the relationship between music and social power in the United States from the antebellum period to the present. Using a combination of historical and ethnomusicological analysis, we will consider how and why music has been used for social influence in various historical moments. Topics may include 19th century campaign songs; music and abolitionism; folk ballads as a mechanism for social control; the political uses of country music; the protest songs and freedom songs of the 1960s; rock ‘n’ roll as social protest; and the cultural work of hip-hop.

Understanding Johnny Cash From his first appearances as a performing artist to his present lionization, Johnny Cash has always had a tremendous impact on American culture.    While his significance has been persistent, its  his nature has rarely, if ever, been consistent.  Creatively, spiritually, politically, and personally, Cash lived a life marked by contradictions—making him a figure that fans and scholars alike have struggled to understand.  This course will enter into that process, working to develop a rounded, comprehensive assessment of the man and his music by setting his life, his work, and creative and critical responses to him in their historical contexts.

African American Literature This course surveys developments in African American fiction, drama, poetry, and essays during the 20th century. Reading texts in their social, historical, and cultural contexts—and often in conjunction with other African American art forms like music and visual art—we will explore the evolution and deployment of various visions of black being and black artistry, from the Harlem Renaissance through social realism and the Black Arts Movement, to the contemporary post-soul aesthetic. Authors may include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, and Octavia Butler. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major.  3 hrs lect./disc. (Diversity)/

Re-Presenting Slavery In this course we will examine 20th century American portrayals of chattel slavery through creative works and situate them in their historical contexts. Working primarily with fiction (Oxherding Tale, Kindred, The Underground Railroad), film (Mandingo, Django Unchained, Twelve Years a Slave), television (Roots, Africans in America, Underground), and visual art (works by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Kara Walker), we will evaluate how those various representations of the “Peculiar Institution” have changed, and/or have been changed, by the cultural moments in which they appeared. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major. 3 hrs lect.

African American Literature (AL) This course surveys developments in African American fiction, drama, poetry, and essays during the 20th century.  Reading texts in their social, historical, and cultural contexts—and often in conjunction with other African American art forms like music and visual art—we will explore the evolution and deployment of various visions of black being and black artistry, from the Harlem Renaissance through social realism and the Black Arts Movement, to the contemporary post-soul aesthetic.  Authors may include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, and Octavia Butler. 3 hrs lect./disc. (Diversity) (Rec)

The Guitar in American Culture Although it has European and African antecedents, modern acoustic and electric guitars are American inventions.  From the genteel parlor guitars of the 19th century elite to the electric weaponry of today’s rock stars, the guitar is an essential artifact of American material culture.   Drawing on histories, cultural critiques, interviews, and sound and video recordings, we will study both the evolution of the instrument and the builders and players who have helped define its role.  Examining artifacts and talking with working guitar builders will illuminate the craft of guitar making.  The culmination of the course will be a student-curated exhibition.

Reading, Slavery, and Abolition In this course we will study both black and white writers' psychological responses to, and their verbal onslaughts on, the "peculiar institution" of chattel slavery.  We will work chronologically and across genres to understand how and by whom the written word was deployed in pursuit of physical and mental freedom and racial and socioeconomic justice. As the course progresses, we will deepen our study of historical context drawing on the substantial resources of Middlebury's special collections, students will have the opportunity to engage in archival work if they wish.  Authors will include Emerson, Douglass, Jacobs, Thoreau, Stowe, Walker, and Garrison. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major

Reading, Slavery, and Abolition In this course we will study both black and white writers' psychological responses to, and their verbal onslaughts on, the "peculiar institution" of chattel slavery.  We will work chronologically and across genres to understand how and by whom the written word was deployed in pursuit of physical and mental freedom and racial and socioeconomic justice. As the course progresses, we will deepen our study of historical context drawing on the substantial resources of Middlebury's special collections, students will have the opportunity to engage in archival work if they wish.  Authors will include Emerson, Douglass, Jacobs, Thoreau, Stowe, Walker, and Garrison.

African American Literature This course surveys developments in African American fiction, drama, poetry, and essays during the 20th century. Reading texts in their social, historical, and cultural contexts—and often in conjunction with other African American art forms like music and visual art—we will explore the evolution and deployment of various visions of black being and black artistry, from the Harlem Renaissance through social realism and the Black Arts Movement, to the contemporary post-soul aesthetic. Authors may include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, and Octavia Butler. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major. 3 hrs lect./disc.

Reading, Slavery, and Abolition In this course we will study both black and white writers' psychological responses to, and their verbal onslaughts on, the "peculiar institution" of chattel slavery.  We will work chronologically and across genres to understand how and by whom the written word was deployed in pursuit of physical and mental freedom and racial and socioeconomic justice. As the course progresses, we will deepen our study of historical context drawing on the substantial resources of Middlebury's special collections, students will have the opportunity to engage in archival work if they wish.  Authors will include Emerson, Douglass, Jacobs, Thoreau, Stowe, Walker, and Garrison. This course may also be counted as a general elective or REC elective for the ENAM major.

Introduction to Black Studies This course considers the issues, epistemologies, and political investments central to Black Studies as a field. We will explore chronologically, thematically, and with an interdisciplinary lens the social forces and ideas that have shaped the individual and collective experiences of African-descended peoples throughout the African Diaspora. This course is a broad survey of the history of chattel slavery, colonial encounters, community life, and social institutions of black Americans. We will address issues of gender and class; the role of social movements in struggles for liberation; and various genres of black expressive cultures. Students will develop critical tools, frameworks, and vocabulary for further study in the field. Course materials may include Maulana Karenga’s Introduction to Black Studies, C.L.R. James’s The Black Jacobins, and Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.

William Nash

Reviews and ratings for William Nash at Middlebury College.William Nash teaches Cultural Work Country Music, Imagining Rural America, Music and Social Power and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is William Nash good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

Will Nash is a GREAT professor -- animated, excited, clearly loves what he does, and isn't afraid to crack a joke or two. The study of Appalachia truly is one of his passions, and that shines in this course, as most (genuinely like 95% of the course) of the course's focus is on that region of the country. You read some fantastic books in this class, and it's important that you do read, so that the class actually feels worth it since it's like 90% discussion. A few papers, a film review, and a final exam (essay) were the bulk of the grade. Nothing too bad but enough to make you really learn.

William Nash is such a great professor. Although the course content wasn't something I normally gravitate toward, his enthusiasm made the class really interesting. You read a lot of books during the course, and classes are heavily discussion-based. 

I felt that the course was very engaging and allowed those who had an interest in rural America to fully understand the living conditions and history of the Appalachian region. The course mainly speaks about inherent inequalities that have developed due to stereotypes and stigmas about the people of the Appalachian area.