Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology
Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities, 2016.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106760 |
| _version_ | 1826201484520325120 |
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| author | Kilburn, Lilia Maud |
| author2 | Eugenie Brinkema. |
| author_facet | Eugenie Brinkema. Kilburn, Lilia Maud |
| author_sort | Kilburn, Lilia Maud |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities, 2016. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:52:33Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/106760 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:52:33Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1067602022-07-26T16:38:12Z Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology Kilburn, Lilia Maud Eugenie Brinkema. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Comparative Media Studies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing Humanities. Comparative Media Studies. Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities, 2016. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-121). In academic and activist contexts, "voice" has long served as shorthand for inclusion, empowerment, and the like, occasioning bromides about having or not having a voice, giving voice to the voiceless, breaking the silence, and speaking truth to power. Such metaphysically inflected phrasings often serve to reinforce a binary between sound and silence at the expense of attending to other vocal modulations. This thesis first assembles calls by queer and feminist scholars for such nuanced portrayals of vocality; then, so as to answer those calls, it stages scenes of listening. I examine vocality through technology: by looking at how vocality is structured by enclosing technologies, which in turn structure relations and the reverse. More specifically, my thesis traces the ways in which vocality travels in the world by attending to three particular technologies through which the voice is filtered: the answering machine, Auto-Tune pitch correction software, and the sound spectrograph. This approach enables me to probe the distinct claims that specific sound technologies allow us to hold on one another-claims about mourning and loss, about calling and the promise of response, about the identification of individuals (or oneself) via the voice. Though my investigations span various archives, I center them on two characters: the performer Cher and her son Chaz, who is transgender. I do so to consider the ways in which a sonically inflected media theory can inform queer theory and vice versa, and to consider the particular relational dilemmas made incumbent upon subjects whose vocal trajectories are discontinuous, depart from normative pitch, and/or deemed an invitation to violence. by Lilia Maud Kilburn. S.M. in Comparative Media Studies 2017-01-30T19:17:08Z 2017-01-30T19:17:08Z 2016 2016 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106760 969742821 eng MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 121 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Humanities. Comparative Media Studies. Kilburn, Lilia Maud Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology |
| title | Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology |
| title_full | Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology |
| title_fullStr | Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology |
| title_full_unstemmed | Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology |
| title_short | Answering machine, auto-tune, spectrograph : queer vocality through sonic technology |
| title_sort | answering machine auto tune spectrograph queer vocality through sonic technology |
| topic | Humanities. Comparative Media Studies. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106760 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kilburnliliamaud answeringmachineautotunespectrographqueervocalitythroughsonictechnology |