Description:
Western cultures are considered to be predominantly visual. Despite the fact that human beings develop the capacity to hear – while in the womb – before the capacity to see, our belief in a visually dominated culture prevails. Sounds and orality are often subjugated to the visual, to images and the written word. Yet the experience of everyday life is increasingly mediated by a multitude of (mechanically reproduced) sounds.
The point of departure in this course is that close attention to aural practices will provide crucial insights while investigating issues of cultural history and analysis. People always also relate to each other through the sense of hearing. Considering the suggested primacy of sound as a modality of knowing and being in the world, the home territory of Auditory Culture studies will be the area between the arts, society and science.
In Auditory Culture 1, the emphasis will be on sounds in the city. In addition to a close reading of relevant and recent texts, students will be invited to take a sound walk and prompted to invent new soundscapes for their own environment.
Teaching method:
Lecture and seminar.
Course load:
5 ects.
Required reading:
- Michael Bull & Les Back (eds.) (2004), The Auditory Culture Reader. Oxford: Berg. – R. Murray Schafer (1977), The Soundscape. Rochester: Destiny Books. – Reader.
Test method:
Written and auditory assignments.
Time table:
First term. The lectures are held on Monday from 15.00-17.00 hrs., Lipsiusbuilding (Cleveringaplaats 1), room 147. First lecture: 14 September.
Information:
Dr. Marcel Cobussen, e-mail: m.a.cobussen@umail.leidenuniv.nl: