Sound, Power, and Resistance

Catalog description

From the chants of protesters to the hum of engines, from the ring of church bells to the background tracks of our favorite songs, sound matters. It is not just a background to what we see, but a crucial and powerful part of social life. This course builds an understanding of sound through anthropological investigation, as a product of human creativity, human conflict, and human interaction with the material world. We will explore the ways that sound is conceptualized and endowed with meaning; how sound becomes linked to identity; and how sound can become a call to action in different cultural and historical contexts. The kinds of sounds we will encounter in this course include, but are not limited to, music and spoken language; we will also be studying environmental, industrial, and religious sounds. You will also be learning about different ways to record, document, and write about sound by engaging in your own sound-based ethnographic research. Prerequisite: Sophomore Standing or higher.