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Åbo Akademi University 2014/2015
ÅBO CAMPUS
1718 (1979)
Roberts, Michael: The Age of Liberty: Sweden 1719-1772
(1986)
Jespersen, L. (ed.): A Revolution fromAbove? The Power State
of 16th and 17th Century Scandinavia (2000)
Österberg E. and Sogner, S. (eds.): People Meet the Law: Con-
trol and conflict handling in the courts: The Nordic Countries
in the Post-Reformation and Pre-Industrial period (2000)
Gustafsson H.: Political Interaction in the old Regime: Central
Power and Local Society in the Eighteenth-Century Nordic
States (1994)
Eliassen, F-E, et al (eds.): Regional Integration in Early Modern
Scandinavia (2001). Introduction and 8 essays.
Musicology
The Department of Musicology offers several self-study
courses for students who wish to study in English. Students
may, upon agreement, write essays and/or assignments in
English tutored and supervised by the teachers. International
studentswith some knowledge inSwedish canalsoparticipate
in seminars. All students interested in completing courses in
musicology should contact the professor of musicology in
order to plan their studies.
A Cultural History of Sound
114285.1
5 credits
Level: Intermediate and advanced
Offered: Spring 2015 (period IV, 8 lectures)
Lecturer: Professor Bruce Johnson (Macquarie Univ., Univ. of
Glasgow, Univ. of Turku)
Contact: Johannes Brusila, Musicology
Prerequisites: No prior specialist knowledge of the field will
be expected. It will therefore begin at a basic level, working
forward to offer suggestions for more advanced research.
The course can therefore be included in both intermediate
and advanced studies.
Aim: The course offers a general introduction to the cultural
history of sound and the methodologies for its study.
Contents: Why are ancient cave paintings exactly placed
where they are? Why does Hamlet wait so long for revenge?
Why are cathedrals so large and with such reverberation, but
a dance club is so much smaller and with no echo? Why is a
Gregorian chant so slow, but Metal is so fast? What form of
pollution in the European Union is causing up to 35 billion
euros per year? What is the most ancient way of marking
territory? What is the most frequent trigger for community
conflict? What is one of themost effective ways of controlling
the occupation of public space?
These are examples of a range of historical and contempo-
rary questions that traditional cultural and historical analysis
cannot answer. The reason is that these disciplines are built
on an ideology that is deeply visual - try to rewrite a page
of a cultural studies book in English without making any
reference to vision, and you begin to understand. This course
demonstrates howmuch differently we understand our own
culture and those of the past if we 'listen' instead of 'look'.
This course explores the cultural history of sound. It will
discuss the physiology and phenomenology or sounding and
hearing; it will review the emerging literature on the cultural
study of sound and hearing, with particular attention to the
very significant role played in this development by Finnish
scholars, and we may ask ourselves what this says about
Finnish language and culture.
The course will also provide a brief overview of sound in
cultural history, ranging from the pre-modern, through the
transition tomodern, the emergence of an 'aural renaissance'
throughout the nineteenth century with the development
of sonic technologies. It will survey the role and function of
sound in the contemporaryworld and its role in the formation
of culture, including in power relations, identities, glocalisa-
tion, migrations, territories, communities and conflicts, and
sustainable development.
Throughout the course illustrations and case studies will
be drawn from the music, media, theatre, film, sound tech-
nologies and literature, with reference to a wide range of
cultural issues.
Learning outcomes: Having completed the course, the stu-
dents will have an understanding of the cultural history of
sound and the methodologies for its study.
Teaching methods: This is a lectured course.
Entry requirements: Presentation and assessment for the
course will be in English. A good level of English comprehen-
sion is therefore necessary.
Target group: Students with a general interest in cultural
studies.
Form of assessment: Assessment will be by lecture diaries.
In their journals, students will have the opportunity to write
about their own areas of interest.
Literature:
Schafer, R. Murray (1980) The Tuning of the World. Philadel-
phia: Univ. of Pennsylvania press.
Michael Bull and Les Back (Eds.) (2003) The Auditory Culture
Reader. Oxford and New York: Berg
Järviluoma, Helmi; Kytö, Meri; Truax, Barry; Uimonen, Heikki;
Vikman, Noora (Eds.) (2009) Acoustic Environments inChange.
Tampere : TAMK University of Applied Sciences.
Nordic Ethnology
Ethnology studies people and cultures - that is - man as a
cultural being. At Åbo Akademi University we are especially
interested in culture as it appears in everyday Finnish life, but
we also have an interest in the other Nordic countries and
culture in a broader European sense. Ethnology concerns
itself mostly with social, material and mental traits of culture.
Cultural patterns and cultural variations are often investigated
by a combination of contemporary analysis and historical
reconstruction while cultural confrontation and subcultures
can be seen as dynamic approaches.
Due to its great interest in material culture and the issues
of conservation, Ethnology has a strong connection to Mu-
seology. The emphasis on social factors and meaning ties
Ethnology to Social Sciences. The interest in tradition and
the making of tradition is something that Ethnology has in
commonwith Folkloristics. The historical approach alsomakes
need for insight in history and its methods.
The staff at the Department has weekly office hours when
students can attend study-counseling (at other times by
appointment). For international students supervision is also
available in English or German. The department cannot of-
fer any lectured courses in English this year. International
students can participate in ethnological fieldwork courses,
documenting and interviewing also in English. On the un-
dergraduate/graduate level of study the seminar papers can
be written in English/German and the seminars can partly be
held in English. Supervision will be given in both languages.
The list of the courses that can be assessed in English as self-
study courses are as follows:
