Sound Studies

Catalog description

Explores sound studies through readings of exemplary texts and discussions of the key debates that enliven this interdisciplinary field of inquiry. Drawing on philosophical, musicological, anthropological, and other kinds of writings, it explores issues like the way that relations between sound, noise, silence, and music have formed in different cultures and different historical periods; ideological structures that determine the place of sound in artistic practice and in everyday life; the power relations that are implicated in the design of local soundscapes; and the place of aural perception within the sensorium, among other potential topics. Enrollment limited to graduate students.