Midterm paper for Learning of Culture with Lisa Stulberg Max Weber locates the roots of capitalism in vestigial puritanical Protestantism. Émile Durkheim, in turn, gives a theory of how that Protestantism arose in the first place. In this paper, I ask two questions. First: can Weber’s and Durkheim’s theories of religion be extended to explain culture …
Author Archives: Ethan
Marx and Althusser
Note-taking for Learning of Culture with Lisa Stulberg Unlike most social theorists of his era and since, Marx can actually write. His prose has a rhythm and urgency that feels more like a sermon than a scholarly text. Of course, he has the advantage that he’s writing a manifesto, so he isn’t bogged down by nuance, …
Music Matters chapter six
Public-facing note taking on Music Matters by David Elliott and Marissa Silverman for my Philosophy of Music Education class. It seems obvious that the point of music education is to foster musical understanding. But what is musical understanding, exactly? Where and how do we learn and teach it? On an emotional level, people seem to understand music just fine …
Bourdieu and Swidler – Structures and the Habitus
Note-taking for Learning of Culture with Lisa Stulberg This week’s reading was the second chapter of Pierre Bourdieu‘s Outline Of A Theory Of Practice, on Structures and the Habitus. Bourdieu writes the worst, most opaque prose of any social theorist. The second paragraph of this chapter includes the phrase “structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures.” Later: “the habitus, which at every …
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Music Matters chapter nine
Public-facing note taking on Music Matters by David Elliott and Marissa Silverman for my Philosophy of Music Education class. Research into music psychology (and simply attending to your own experience, and to common sense) shows that music arouses emotions. However, there is no conclusive way to explain why or how. To make things more complicated, it’s perfectly possible to perceive an emotion in …
QWERTYBeats research
Writing assignment for Design For The Real World with Claire Kearney-Volpe and Diana Castro – research about a new rhythm interface for blind and low-vision novice musicians Definition I propose a new web-based accessible rhythm instrument called QWERTYBeats. Traditional instruments are highly accessible to blind and low-vision musicians. Electronic music production tools are not. I look at the history …
Freud – Civilization And Its Discontents
Note-taking for Learning of Culture with Lisa Stulberg We have read some dense canonical European White Guys. None of them have been as difficult and off-putting as Freud. I would have rather read Civilization And Its Discotheques. Freud begins with the observation that for most of human history, our happiness has been tied to our …
Music Matters chapter five
Public-facing note taking on Music Matters by David Elliott and Marissa Silverman for my Philosophy of Music Education class. These are responses to the discussion questions at the end of chapter five, which discusses personhood and music education. Why should music educators be concerned with the nature of personhood? All forms of music, education and community music are …
Émile Durkheim – Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Note-taking for Learning of Culture with Lisa Stulberg This week, we read another cornerstone of the sociology canon: Émile Durkheim on where religion comes from. The book is very much a product of its time, with continual and annoying references to “primitive” religions and peoples. No question that Durkheim’s methodology doesn’t pass contemporary muster. But his theoretical insights are …
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Music Matters chapter four
Public-facing note taking on Music Matters by David Elliott and Marissa Silverman for my Philosophy of Music Education class. What is education? The etymology of the word “education” from its various Latin roots gives a good overview of modern senses of the word: Educationem: rearing children, animals, plants and promoting physical development Educare: to train or mold …