Teaching

A number of teaching activities related to the research line Technological Cultures of Sound take place in various programmes of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

  • MA in Media Culture:
    In this 1-year MA programme, one course is dedicated to the subject of “Sound Technologies and Cultural Practices”. In this course, students conduct ethnographic research on cultural practices associated with sound technologies, and present their results in the form of a radio documentary. Furthermore, as of the academic year 2014/15, it is possible to follow a specialisation on Sound Studies within the Media Culture programme. Students who opt for this specialisation follow a second sound-related course (“Sounding Media: Designers and Users”) during the first semester, and write an MA thesis on a sound-related subject (possibly in combination with an internship) during the second semester.

 

  • MSc in Cultures of Arts, Science and Technology
    The Master of Science in Cultures of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST) is a 2-year programme designed to train young academics to do research at the crossroads of three important spheres of modern culture: science, technology and the arts. Prof. Dr. Karin Bijsterveld was Director of Studies of CAST from 2013-15, and several of the other STS-researchers contributing to the research line Technological Cultures of Sound teach and supervise final theses and other projects in CAST. For instance, in 2014, a joint research project was carried out on the subject of “Constructing Authenticity? Recreating Musical Cultures of the Past for the 21st Century“.

 

  • BA Arts and Culture / BA European Studies
    Both of the BA programmes at our faculty offer an honours programme,which allows excellent 2nd-year and 3rd-year students to get involved in research projects. The projects on offer change every year, but sound studies-related projects are often among them. For instance, in 2011/12, a group of students contributed to the preparation of a sound installation at the Amsterdam Museum related to the Soundscapes of the Urban Past project; in 2012/13, a different group of students conducted ethnographic research about the use of this (now finished) sound installation; and in 2013/14, another group of students contributed to the planning of the Sonic Science Festival.