STS 4966 - [Science, Technology and Medicine: The Sonic Dimension]

(crosslisted) BSOC 4966, MUSIC 4466, SOC 4970
(CA-AS)

Spring. Not offered 2015-2016. 4 credits.

T. Pinch.

We will discuss the different ways in which sound is embedded in the activities and practices of science, technology and medicine considered both contemporaneously and historically. We will examine different approaches which try to draw attention to sound by historicizing listening practices and key technologies such as the phonograph and stethoscope which have revolutionized technical fields. The overall goal of the course is to critically reflect on how sound offers a new way of understanding how humans, culture and society are entwined with and coproduced by science, technology and medicine.