2024-2025 Catalog

FYS 171 The Sounds of Silence

Is silence a rare commodity in the Information Age? Is "noise" everywhere, or do sound and silence emerge in patterned ways? Are all silences identical? This course explores the many "sounds" of silence. We seek it at a meditation class, and consider how it structures everyday conversation and even life on a college campus. We turn to conspiracies of silence, and ask how social silencing works: who silences whom, how, and why?

Instructor

Andrea Smith