Topics in German Media Theory & History: Sonic Politics

In the wake of a series of recent events "Havana syndrome," acoustic devices for suppressing protests, etc.--the weaponization of the acoustic has gained widespread public attention. But these dystopic accounts obscure the fact that sound has always been intimately connected to the political. This seminar explores the many political dimensions of the acoustic: from tonality as a colonizing force to the algorithmization of listening; from acoustic regimes of urban space to the ecological dimensions of audio technologies; from questions of noise and sonic pleasure to the deployment of sound both for protest and as a mechanism of control.