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

Begin by asking: What does it mean to truly listen? Map a memory of a meaningful place and layer it with imagined or remembered sounds and silences. Tune into emotional textures—tension, comfort, grief, joy—and collect your first field recordings to seed your collage.

Week 2 – Black Noise and Disruption

Explore Black Noise as a tool of disruption and liberation. Bring in a sonic fragment—glitches, chants, hums—and interrogate what systems it interrupts. Let noise become your method and metaphor as you begin building a collage of resistance.

Week 3 – Sonic Memory, Audio, and the Archive

Discover how sound preserves what text and image cannot. Remix a voicemail, lullaby, or oral story into a sound piece. Pair it with text or visuals that evoke memory, absence, or legacy. Let your archive speak—loudly or quietly.

Week 4 – Sound, Affect, and Presence

Feel sound in your body. Begin with a listening meditation, then trace the emotions it evokes. Craft a sonic sketch or intimate letter using textures that resonate. Refine your collage with raw feeling, embodied sound, and personal narrative.

Week 5 – Final Reflections and Sharing

Gather in a circle for a collective listening session. Share your collage, reflect on your journey, and ask: What do I carry forward from this listening? Contribute to a final audio archive—an echo of everything we’ve made and heard together.

• 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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