Critical and Reflective Inquiry: Keywords in Sound

Theme: Keywords in Sound

Scholars in sound studies use sound “to ask big questions about their cultural moments and the crises and problems of their times” (Jonathan Sterne, The Sound Studies Reader. Routledge, 2012: 3).

In this class we will use a keywords approach to investigate topics in sound: Silence, Technology, Noise, Environment, Space, Voice. We will examine these concepts as literal phenomena and as larger metaphorical concepts in culture. For example, silence means the absence of physical sound. But also, silence means lacking a (political) voice. Or silence as an action, as in to be silenced. (Or the inverse, as a form of resistance: an un-silencing.)

Sound studies is inherently interdisciplinary, using Expanded edition, MCD XFSG Originals, 2021 the core tenet that we examine our world through the framework of sound. Therefore, students of many interests should participate: Sound activism, sound and technology, sound and race, sound and media, deafness studies, psychology of sound / sound perception, sound and gender, sound in post-colonial studies (“sound imperialism”), sound as an expressive art (sound in film, music, multi-media art, etc.)

Assignments:

1. Students will complete a research project in a topic of particular interest to them, which may draw from any of the above (or other) areas of study.
2. Students will write a personal reflection paper addressing some element of sound in their lives (past or present).
3. Students will make a creative sound piece using sounds they create, found sounds, field recordings, etc. No technical experience is required in sound editing or creation; Rather only a desire to engage with the world, and express through sound.

Texts:

• Novak, David and Matt Sakakeeny, editors. Keywords in Sound. Duke University Press, 2015.
• Hopper, Jessica. The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic. Expanded  edition, MCD XFSG Originals, 2021.
• Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 5th ed., W. W. Norton, 2021.