Radiophilia: A New Key Concept for Media Studies?
Carolyn Birdsall (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Given radio’s initial rapid and sustained popularity for over a century, it may seem surprising that media scholars have not yet sought to further clarify the affective and emotional attachments formed in relation to the medium, its contents and material forms. While the exact conditions and media assemblages of ‘radio’ may differ across time and place, my recent research has explored radiophilia as a conceptual tool for making sense of the love for, or strong attachments to, radio from its inception to the present (Birdsall 2023). In this talk, I will first outline this framework, which builds on recent work on “affective practice”, envisaged as a means to productively resolve oppositions between affect theory and the history of the emotions (Wetherell 2012; Wetherell et al. 2018). In arguing for a longue durée perspective, my analysis is focused on loving, knowing, saving and sharing as domains of affective practice in relation to radio as a historical and renewed medium. The second part of the presentation will engage this model with several cases explored in the book, with particular reference to developments in German media history.
Bio:
Carolyn Birdsall is Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam. Her publications include Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933-1945 (AUP, 2012) and Radiophilia (Bloomsbury, 2023). She currently leads the research project TRACE (Tracking Radio Archival Collections in Europe, 1930–1960), which is funded by the Dutch Research Council (www.trace.humanities.uva.nl).
Wann: Freitag, 17.5.2024, 16 Uhr (c.t.)
Wo: Medientheater (EG, Raum 0.01)