A special joint presentation concludes Sound and Society’s Winter schedule on February 20th:
“The Rules of Music-Sociological Method”
An interactive presentation on Whitney Johnson’s book manuscript,
Learning to Listen: Knowledge of Value in Auditory Culture
 
Whitney Johnson (UChicago PhD in Sociology) and Patrick Fitzgibbon (PhD Candidate in Music)
Wednesday, February 20th
4:30-6:00pm
Logan Center, Room 703 (*Note room change)
Whitney writes, “Thanks to the Sound and Society Workshop for including me in a methodology discussion of the book based on my dissertation (currently seeking publication!). My dissertation engaged in qualitative, interpretive methods: 105 interviews with practitioners of auditory culture and four years of participant observation in New York, Chicago, and Berlin. I’d love to hear a response from scholars in other disciplines: does a social science approach to sound studies interest you? Thanks again, and looking forward!”

Patrick writes, “Sociologically informed music studies, particularly in my own disciplinary home of music theory, often remain curiously estranged from current research in the sociology of music, with only a handful of breakout stars (e.g., Tia DeNora, Simon Frith, Georgina Born) cutting through the long shadows of grand anthologized founders (e.g., Weber, Adorno, Elias). Whitney Johnson’s recent dissertation and ongoing book project, a highly suggestive account of aesthetic valuation in cultural economy that interweaves social sciences and sound studies, offers an especially inviting point of entry. For my part, I hope to contribute to a conversation across our departments by underscoring how her theorization of auditory cultures, cast in Deleuzian terms of economic assemblage, offers an answer to recent calls made by such scholars as Sumanth Gopinath and Bryan Parkhurst for a Marxist music theory that moves beyond sociomusical homology.”

Medici pizza will be served!

Please do not hesitate to contact Amy Skjerseth (askjerseth@uchicago.edu) or Ailsa Lipscombe (ailsa@uchicago.edu) with any questions or concerns. Persons who believe they may require accommodations to participate fully in the event should notify the coordinators in advance.

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