Nick Harkness and I spoke recently about his inspiring new book. Songs of Seoul explores the human voice as an instrument, and object, and an emblem in a rich ethnography of songak in Christian South Korea. It is a thoughtful and conceptually sophisticated account, and you can listen to our conversation about it here. Continue reading Songs of Seoul: An Interview
Last month, I had the pleasure of giving a talk at Berkeley comparing the art of the DJ and that of the historian, and considering an example of what might result from putting the comparison into practice for the history of Qing science. The Berkeley CSTMS have posted a video of the talk online, and you can find it at the link below. http://cstms.berkeley.edu/current-events/last-night-an-historian-saved-my-life-science-sampling-and-the-art-of-the-dj/ Continue reading Last Night An Historian Saved My Life: A Recent Talk at Berkeley
Back in November, I was fortunate enough to join a panel of wonderful scholars, all of whom I deeply respect and admire, in the plenary session of the History of Science Society 2013 annual meeting in Boston. We were all talking, in different ways and using different media, about the importance of experimentation with the form of academic narratives about objects and the history of … Continue reading KUNGGUR kanggar!: A landscape of Manchu onomatopoeias
David Novak and I recently talked about his awesome new book on noise, Japan, music, and global circulation. It’s a thoughtful study and a pleasure to read, and you can listen to our conversation about it here. Continue reading Japanoise: An Interview
I had the pleasure of talking with Jonathan Sterne about his fascinating new study of the MP3 as a historical, cultural, conceptual, and social phenomenon. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading MP3: An Interview
Perry Link and I recently talked about his inspiring, wonderfully transdisciplinary new book on rhythm, metaphor, politics, and the Chinese language. You can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading An Anatomy of Chinese: An Interview
Alix Hui and I spoke recently about her new book about musical aesthetics, natural science, and the psychophysical study of sound in nineteenth century Germany. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading The Psychophysical Ear: An Interview
Erica Fox Brindley and I recently talked about her stimulating new book on music, resonance, and early Chinese thought. You can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading Music, Cosmology, and the Politics of Harmony in Early China: An Interview
[Reposted from the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Stanford, where this blog post originally appeared on 14 March 2013] Shhh. If you stand outside on an early spring day and you’re very, very quiet, and very, very still, you might hear it. Hiyong hiyong. You might have to close your eyes. I find that helps. Hiyong hiyong. I first heard this sound … Continue reading Histories of Failure
Carla Nappi 