Sound: History, Culture, Politics

Catalog description

An interdisciplinary exploration of the history, culture, and politics of our audible—and sub-audible—worlds, from musicology and history to anthropology, film and media studies, and beyond. We begin with a historical survey, grappling with problems of technological, political, and even epistemological change, and critically examine prevailing notions about the increasing “noisiness” of our modern world. We then shift to case studies that illuminate how attitudes about voice and audibility—particularly the problematic distinction between “sound” and “noise”—figure into constructions of religion, race, ethnicity, and other cultural categories and identities. By thinking critically about the sound/noise distinction we begin to wonder about “sound” as a category at all, and arrive at the possibilities of pure “vibration,” a turn that raises potentials for both political liberation (as in its inclusivity toward deaf populations) and authoritarian domination through sonic booms, the Long Range Acoustic Device, and other forms of “acoustic violence.”