University of California Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte Marie Questions

1. Choose “Universal Soldier” or “Ohio” and consider it in relation to audience. In 1-2sentences each, answer:a. What were two possible audiences for the song when it first circulated?b. What political work might this song have done specifically for each audience?Specifically, how the song might have impacted their view of the Vietnam War orrelated issues?

We are going to work on developing skills for reading, analyzing, and evaluating scholarlyarticles. In one sentence, answer the following in relation to the Lee article:

2. What is the main issue Lee is concerned with?

3. What is Lee’s main question about this issue?

4. What is Lee’s proposed answer?

5. Identify an exact quote from the text in which Lee states this proposed answer.

This proposed answer is Lee’s argument or thesis for the article. It is also a hypothesis, that is,he is making an educated guess that this is the case and examining the various song texts toprove or disprove this idea.

Now let’s dig into Lee’s analysis of historical accounts and song texts. Choose one anti-warsong (“Talking Vietnam Blues,” “Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues,” “The Big Muddy,” or“I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag”) and answer the following questions about it in 1-2 sentenceseach:

6. How does the song portray the Vietnam War or elements of it?

7. How might the song present a counter-dominant view of the war?

8. Do you agree or disagree with Lee’s assessment of the song’s political function?

While Lee used his argument to spur his analyses and frame the article, completing his studyrevealed new information. Answer in 1-2 sentences:

9. At the end of the article, how does Lee return to and adjust his proposed answer into afinal statement?

10. What questions or places of ambiguity remain for Lee?

Now let’s turn to the Farmworker’s and Chicano Movements…

11. Drawing on Huerta’s account of the roots of Chicano theater, how does this relate to theimpetus or politics of the Black Arts Movement?a. What strategies are similar?b. What is distinct?

12. Analyze the lyrics of “Yo Soy Chicano” as a reflection of Chicano identity and politicalconcerns.a. Who is the speaker of the lyrics and what is their point of view?b. What are a few key lyrical passages that indicate the speaker’s politics?c. Why might “La Rielera” been selected as the source material on which this songis based?

13. Compare “We Shall Not Be Moved” by the SNCC Freedom Singers and “No NosMoverán” by La Rondalla Amerindia de Atzlán.a. What musical similarities and differences are there?b. What differences do you note in the lyrics (or English translation of the lyrics)?c. How do these distinctions speak to the cultural milieu of each movement?

14. Think about “Vietnam Veterano” in relation to all of the materials in this module.a. How does this song speak specifically to a Chicano experience of the war?b. What might be the political value of capturing this narrative? For whom?