Topics in Sonic Practice

Graduate

What does it mean to give someone, or something a voice? What does it mean to find your voice? To raise it? This course is an excursion into vocal embodiment as an enunciation of race, class, gender, etc. using case studies and analysis by Cavarero, Capalleto, Dolar, Eidsheim. We explore disembodied vocalities, looking at Gunning, Chion, Piekut, Stanyek and others to question the necropolitics of the recorded voice and the vocal clone. This course follows a typical seminar format, where students will survey assigned essays and articles, critically engage in group discussions, and produce writing that reflects on the material as it relates to their own lives. Ultimately, students will leave this class having developed a more nuanced appreciation of vocality, and a familiarity with some of the theoretical questions at the heart of the interdisciplinary field of voice studies.