As our knowledge of the body and of hearing increase, sharp distinctions between mind and body become increasingly untenable. The body is not only the site of listening, it mediates, facilitates and delimits the very possibility of hearing. In this session, historian of science Mara Mills and music theorist Mark Butler join us as we consider questions of embodiment and hearing: How does the body respond to sonic repetition and how have technologies cultivated such modes of hearing? What are the implications of deafness and the lack of hearing for understanding the relationship between the body and faculties? More broadly, how can we conceptualize hearing to account for both its capacity to produce rich affect and its potential as “disability”?
With response by Christopher Hasty.