This course explores listening as both a critical and creative practice through the lens of Black critical theory, sound studies, and the African diaspora. Students will engage with themes of silence, noise, and presence through theoretical readings and hands-on experiments, with an emphasis on open-ended exploration rather than a final project.

All are welcome to discover their own personal relationships to the subject matter or themes presented. This class is ideal for individuals interested in furthering their understanding of sound's effect on their own lives, as well as Black life at large, within a traditional, yet welcoming, class structure. Discussion is highly encouraged! Short readings, films, and source material will be provided prior to each class and discussed to inform individual and collaborative creative exercises.

• Understanding of the role of sound across Black histories.
• Using sound, and audio recording practices, as a tool to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
• The value of listening and its place in our day to day lives.
• A portfolio of multi-media works (writings, photos, and sound pieces) that engage with the class’s discourses of liberation, agency, and practices of refusal.

Week 1 – Introduction to Sonic Epistemologies & Listening to Silence

Theme: What does it mean to listen?

Discussion: The politics of listening—who decides what is heard and what is silenced?

Activity:

• Students draw a memory map of a place important to their identity (home, migration path, club, sanctuary, ancestral site).
• Then annotate it with remembered or imagined sounds and silences.
• Include emotional textures (e.g., tension, comfort, grief, joy).

Outcome: Use this as a base to prepare for mixed-media collage-making process. Collect first field recordings (ambient sounds or “silent” spaces), image references, or a short freewrite.

Week 2 – Black Noise and Disruption

Theme: Black Noise as a Sonic Tool of Liberation

Discussion: What are Black Noises? How does Black Noise challenge conventional aesthetics, politics, and power structures?

Activity:

• Students bring in a sample of noise: an overheard conversation, distorted audio, protest chant, mechanical hums, or glitch.
• Then write: Who or what does this noise interrupt? What system does it challenge?

Outcome: Understand noise as method and metaphor. Collage elements: sampled noise, text, or visual distortion.

Week 3 – Sonic Memory, Audio, and the Archive

Theme: Sonic Archives and the Memory of the Diaspora

Discussion: How does sound serve as an archive? What is preserved through sound & audio that is not preserved through the written word or image?

Activity:

• Students listen to a family voice memo, old voicemail, oral history, or cultural artifact (e.g., a prayer, lullaby, or mixtape).
• Edit this recording into a short sound piece. Add 1–2 images or text fragments responding to what was heard (or not heard).

Outcome: Explore archival gaps and memory transmission. Collage elements: archival audio, poetic or critical text, visual anchor.

Week 4 – Sound, Affect, and Presence

Theme: Affect, Resonance, and Sonic Affectivity

Discussion: How do sounds move us on an emotional or bodily level? What are the affective qualities of Black sound?

Activity:

• Begin with a short embodied listening meditation. Ask: What feelings or images does this bring up? How does your body remember through sound? Then: Build a short “affective sound sketch” or write a letter using textures that evoke a specific emotion or moment.

Outcome: Understand what social emotions affect us most. Refine final collage with embodied sound, intimate image, and personal writing.

Week 5 – Final Reflections and Sharing

Theme: Ongoing Experimentation and Critical Engagement

Discussion: What new insights have emerged through this course? How can students continue exploring these themes in their own practice?

Activity:

• Group listening to final collages in an open circle format.
• Invite reflective writing on: “What do I carry forward from this listening?”
• Instructor will record the room as a final collective “echo” to archive and share.

• Listening to Images by Tina Campt
• Black Noise Rap Music And Black Culture In Contemporary America by Tricia Rose

Justin R. Baez (El Joven) is a Dominican-born, Bronx-raised, sound artist, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and poet focused on themes of displacement, identity, and legacies of recorded material. He enjoys short trips to the grocery store and baking sweet breads.

Index scholarships are designed to benefit underrepresented groups, BIPOC members of our community, and those for whom the class price is not accessible. These need-based scholarships will go to the candidates who best demonstrate why they should be chosen for the free spot to our class based on the following criteria:

• Belong to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the graphic design and creative industries
• Do not have jobs that would pay for these courses as professional development
• Cannot independently afford the class at list price
• Share our value of intentional community

The number of selected applicants chosen is subject to the discretion of Index and the instructor, but every course will select at least one. Apply for a scholarship here. Applications close May 21st.

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