CUSE Spotlights
Tumaini Sango
Tumaini Sango
McNair Scholar
Major: Music
Minor:
Political Science
“One thing I love in my personal life is looking at where music intersects with activism and politics,” says Tumaini Sango, GVSU McNair Scholar. “In my classes before, I had done research on the histories of certain genres of music, like rap or jazz or classical. But as I was thinking over ideas for my McNair project, the question that emerged was ‘what does protest music look like now?’ I wanted to challenge myself to look and see if I could find it in different genres, not just what’s popular. How are artists getting creative with their message?”
As a part of the McNair program, Sango spent 12 weeks in the summer of 2021 researching the project of his choice, with guidance from his faculty mentor Dr. Helen Marlais. As the weeks went on, Sango’s focus narrowed from twenty songs, to ten, to four: each representing a different genre of music and protest movement from the 2010’s.
“The time I spent at the beginning doing that, I listened to so many new artists and genres I had never been exposed to before, it was a lot of fun,” says Sango. “So was studying the individuals and movements, especially the earlier ones from before I was old enough to pay close attention to politics. To learn in-depth about events like Occupy Wall Street, the Orlando nightclub shooting— I had to stop myself sometimes as I was deep-diving into old articles and news clips about them, because, wow! This was the national conversation. And seeing how art speaks to that was really fascinating.”
Both Occupy Wall Street and the 2016 Orlando shooting made it into Sango’s final paper, represented respectively with the folk song “Occupy the USA” by Emma’s Revolution and the devotional hymn “To A Place Of Celebration” by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. In addition, MILCK’s “Quiet” was used to explore the Women’s March, and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” explored police brutality and Black Lives Matter.
“I was really glad I got to do an oral presentation at Student Summer Scholars Day,” says Sango. “It would have been difficult for me to do a poster, because listening to the music is such an important part of it, and it was great to be able to introduce people to these artists. Not all these songs have played on the radio; some of them have passed their peak in popularity. But if you hear them, and you see the lyrics, it really pulls together for you what they’re talking about. I could have done an entire project on just one of them.”
Those interested in reading Sango’s finished paper can find it on ScholarWorks@GVSU.
“My end result is a lot different from what I thought it was going to be when I started,” says Sango. “But even though it was surprising, even though it didn’t always go according to plan, I’m still really proud of it. There was a point while I was writing and doing all this that I had to learn about having grace with myself through the process, and finding joy in the discovery of learning. Research is finding something that you’re passionate about, that you really want to learn, and then just enjoying the journey. Because you never know where it’s going to take you.”
Interest Area(s)
Music, Political Science
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