“Sound is a Dimension of Reality”: Robin James on Theorizing Sound, Race, and Gender

In this episode in the mini-series focused on sound, art, and media, Caitlin Woolsey (Manton Postdoctoral Fellow in the Research and Academic Program at the Clark Art Institute) speaks with Robin James, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. Robin explores the intersections of pop music, sound studies, feminism, race, and contemporary continental philosophy, and discusses how her work often sits uneasily within institutional disciplines. She shares how she sees popular music as a kind of archive and critiques theoretical approaches that idealize sound as neutral or reparative.