Seminar-Studies in Theatre (546-0-21)

Topic

Vocal Sound and Performances of Race

Instructors

Afua A Osseo - Asare

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 305: Tues 2:00PM - 3:30PM
Locy Hall 111: Tues 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Voices in the (musical) theatre carry and inflect complicated histories of race and empire. What, and how, does vocal sound carry? What does it mean to hear a racialized body in a voice? This course will offer students methods to think critically about vocal sound expressed alongside and through racial and ethnic performativity. Foundational questions about the spaces and bodies from which voices emanate and the positions from which they are perceived will launch our study. Readings will encompass critical voice studies texts as well as Black feminist sound studies and pop music studies works. The course bibliography will include essays and books by Fred Moten, Alexandra T. Vazquez, Dylan Robinson, Daphne Brooks, Katherine Meizel, Nina Sun Eidsheim, Shana Redmond, Roshanak Kheshti, Christine Bacareza Balance, Konstantinos Thomaidis, and more!