Carolyn Birdsall
Biographic Data
| ID | 128132 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Carolyn Birdsall |
| GIVEN NAMES | Carolyn |
| FAMILY NAME | Birdsall |
| SIGNATURE | BIRDSALL C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9870-3035 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 29 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Interconnecting Empires: Towards a Global Radio History of the Axis Powers (1930–1939)
This article builds on the growing body of transnational studies of fascist imperialism and explores their value for media historical research. To establish a global radio history of the Axis powers, we argue that it is productive to examine the crucial role of radio in interactions between Germany, Italy and Japan during the period prior to World War II (1939–1945). Focusing on the 1930s, we first establish the concurrent and intertwined process…
For the Love of Radio: The Archival Impulse in Broadcast Institutions
This chapter seeks to establish a clearer understanding of how an affective attachment to radio broadcasting relates to efforts to keep or save it. It proposes the term radiophilia as a new conceptual tool that can help make sense of strong attachments to radio, whether in the practices of broadcast professionals or radio listeners, fans, and critics. The chapter reflects on how radiophilia is similar to or different from other concepts (e.g. cin…
Hörspiel in the lab: The politics of interdisciplinary radio research in Germany (1928–45)
This article focuses on the establishment of new laboratories for radio research in Germany between 1928 and 1945, whereby the new discipline of radio studies and the collective work of artists, engineers and humanities scholars crucially advanced the development of the German Hörspiel (radio play). In turn, the embedding of the Hörspiel in these new ‘radio labs’ serves as an instructive prism for understanding the interdisciplinary and simultane…
Researching Archival Histories of Radio
Introduction to the special issue on Historical Traces of European Radio Archives
Tracing the Archival Lives of Radio: Recorded Sound Collections in Belgian and Dutch Radio (1930s-1950s)
This article investigates the formation of recorded sound collections in Belgian and Dutch radio, which initially largely comprised commercial music discs, followed by recordings of radio music, spoken word content and sound effects. It focuses on the creation, management and use of radio sound recordings in the 1930s, as the forerunner to formalised historical archives following the Second World War, proposing to interpret this development in in…
Feminist avenues for listening in: Amplifying Silenced Histories of Media and Communication
This paper proposes a feminist critique of the media and communication field by offering a different soundtrack to guide future historical research. By shifting the focus from well-known protagonists, and acknowledging process and community rather than individuals, we aim to amplify ‘hidden’ domains of gendered labour and layers of media technologies and services. We propose the ‘listening in’ model as a different way to engage with histories of …
Curating the urban music festival: Festivalisation, the ‘shuffle’ logic, and digitally-shaped music consumption
In recent years, music festivals have grown in significance within local cultural policy, city branding and tourism agendas. Taking the Mexefest festival in Lisbon as a case in point, this article asks how, in the digital streaming era, music festivals in urban environments are framed, curated and experienced. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, our analysis examines how music festival programmers curate the urban festival experience, for both loc…
Sensing Urban Values: Reassessing Urban Cultures and Histories Amidst Redevelopment Agendas
Introduction to Sensing Urban Values. This special issue assembles a set of papers that respond to a neglected, undertheorized yet crucial question relating to spatial politics and urban renewal: How do economic and non-economic values depend on and co-constitute each other in different urban contexts? In response, the contributors to this special issue build on recent critical reassessments of value; they explore how the spatial and cultural pol…
Reconstructing Media Culture: Transnational Perspectives on Radio in Silesia, 1924-1948
This article contributes to a growing scholarship in the field of transnational radio history that attend to radio as a border-crossing medium. Within this burgeoning field, however, there is a persistent tendency to privilege radio produced by national broadcasters in capital cities. In this article, our focus on radio in Silesia seeks to intervene in current discussions of transnational and regional media history. From 1924, radio in German-con…
Radio Documents: Broadcasting, Sound Archiving, and the Rise of Radio Studies in Interwar Germany
This article investigates the relationship between broadcasting, sound archiving, and the rise of radio studies through the case of Germany's first radio studies institute, led by linguist Friedrichkarl Roedemeyer at the University of Freiburg from 1939 to 1945. I outline an emergent notion of radio research starting in the early 1920s, which contributed to a concept of radio content as both documentation and commodity object. The work of Wilhelm…
Listening to the Archive: Sound Data in the Humanities and Sciences
For it will retain a perfect mechanical memory of many things which we may forget
Capturing commemoration: Using mobile recordings within memory research
This paper details the contribution of mobile devices to capturing commemoration in action. It investigates the incorporation of audio and sound recording devices, observation, and note-taking into a mobile (auto)ethnographic research methodology, to research a large-scale commemorative event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On May 4, 2016, the sounds of a Silent March-through the streets of Amsterdam to Dam Square-were recorded and complemented by…
Interwar France and the politics of auditory culture
For some time, the surge of literatures in the fields of sound history, radio history and media history have revealed a striking gap. For those unable to read French, there has been no equivalent f
Listening to the Mind
With increasing interest in the representation of histories of mental health in museums, sound has played a key role as a tool to access a range of voices. This essay discusses how sound can be used to give voice to those previously silenced. The focus is on the use of sound recording in the history of mental health care, and the archival sources left behind for potential reuse. Exhibition strategies explored include the use of sound to interroga…
One Night on TV is Worth Weeks at the Paramount: Popular Music on Early Television
Media events can provide evocative explanations for the shifts and breaks in the histories of media such as radio, film and television. In the case of US cultural history, one such ‘historic’ moment is found in Elvis Presley's televised music performances that started in January 1956. These television appearances have fuelled a popular myth about the ‘arrival’ of music on US television, and are frequently credited with facilitating the meteoric r…
Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933-1945
This book could not have been completed without my friends and family -thank you for your encouragement and for reminding me how to enjoy the good life.In particular, I
Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933-1945
This book could not have been completed without my friends and family -thank you for your encouragement and for reminding me how to enjoy the good life.In particular, I
Sensing Urban Values: Reassessing Urban Cultures and Histories Amidst Redevelopment Agendas
Introduction to Sensing Urban Values. This special issue assembles a set of papers that respond to a neglected, undertheorized yet crucial question relating to spatial politics and urban renewal: How do economic and non-economic values depend on and co-constitute each other in different urban contexts? In response, the contributors to this special issue build on recent critical reassessments of value; they explore how the spatial and cultural pol…
Reconstructing Media Culture: Transnational Perspectives on Radio in Silesia, 1924-1948
This article contributes to a growing scholarship in the field of transnational radio history that attend to radio as a border-crossing medium. Within this burgeoning field, however, there is a persistent tendency to privilege radio produced by national broadcasters in capital cities. In this article, our focus on radio in Silesia seeks to intervene in current discussions of transnational and regional media history. From 1924, radio in German-con…
Listening to the Archive: Sound Data in the Humanities and Sciences
For it will retain a perfect mechanical memory of many things which we may forget
Capturing commemoration: Using mobile recordings within memory research
This paper details the contribution of mobile devices to capturing commemoration in action. It investigates the incorporation of audio and sound recording devices, observation, and note-taking into a mobile (auto)ethnographic research methodology, to research a large-scale commemorative event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On May 4, 2016, the sounds of a Silent March-through the streets of Amsterdam to Dam Square-were recorded and complemented by…
Listening to the Mind
With increasing interest in the representation of histories of mental health in museums, sound has played a key role as a tool to access a range of voices. This essay discusses how sound can be used to give voice to those previously silenced. The focus is on the use of sound recording in the history of mental health care, and the archival sources left behind for potential reuse. Exhibition strategies explored include the use of sound to interroga…
Curating the urban music festival: Festivalisation, the ‘shuffle’ logic, and digitally-shaped music consumption
In recent years, music festivals have grown in significance within local cultural policy, city branding and tourism agendas. Taking the Mexefest festival in Lisbon as a case in point, this article asks how, in the digital streaming era, music festivals in urban environments are framed, curated and experienced. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, our analysis examines how music festival programmers curate the urban festival experience, for both loc…
Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933-1945
This book could not have been completed without my friends and family -thank you for your encouragement and for reminding me how to enjoy the good life.In particular, I
One Night on TV is Worth Weeks at the Paramount: Popular Music on Early Television
Media events can provide evocative explanations for the shifts and breaks in the histories of media such as radio, film and television. In the case of US cultural history, one such ‘historic’ moment is found in Elvis Presley's televised music performances that started in January 1956. These television appearances have fuelled a popular myth about the ‘arrival’ of music on US television, and are frequently credited with facilitating the meteoric r…
Listening to the Mind
With increasing interest in the representation of histories of mental health in museums, sound has played a key role as a tool to access a range of voices. This essay discusses how sound can be used to give voice to those previously silenced. The focus is on the use of sound recording in the history of mental health care, and the archival sources left behind for potential reuse. Exhibition strategies explored include the use of sound to interroga…
Capturing commemoration: Using mobile recordings within memory research
This paper details the contribution of mobile devices to capturing commemoration in action. It investigates the incorporation of audio and sound recording devices, observation, and note-taking into a mobile (auto)ethnographic research methodology, to research a large-scale commemorative event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On May 4, 2016, the sounds of a Silent March-through the streets of Amsterdam to Dam Square-were recorded and complemented by…
Interwar France and the politics of auditory culture
For some time, the surge of literatures in the fields of sound history, radio history and media history have revealed a striking gap. For those unable to read French, there has been no equivalent f
Reconstructing Media Culture: Transnational Perspectives on Radio in Silesia, 1924-1948
This article contributes to a growing scholarship in the field of transnational radio history that attend to radio as a border-crossing medium. Within this burgeoning field, however, there is a persistent tendency to privilege radio produced by national broadcasters in capital cities. In this article, our focus on radio in Silesia seeks to intervene in current discussions of transnational and regional media history. From 1924, radio in German-con…
Radio Documents: Broadcasting, Sound Archiving, and the Rise of Radio Studies in Interwar Germany
This article investigates the relationship between broadcasting, sound archiving, and the rise of radio studies through the case of Germany's first radio studies institute, led by linguist Friedrichkarl Roedemeyer at the University of Freiburg from 1939 to 1945. I outline an emergent notion of radio research starting in the early 1920s, which contributed to a concept of radio content as both documentation and commodity object. The work of Wilhelm…
Listening to the Archive: Sound Data in the Humanities and Sciences
For it will retain a perfect mechanical memory of many things which we may forget
Curating the urban music festival: Festivalisation, the ‘shuffle’ logic, and digitally-shaped music consumption
In recent years, music festivals have grown in significance within local cultural policy, city branding and tourism agendas. Taking the Mexefest festival in Lisbon as a case in point, this article asks how, in the digital streaming era, music festivals in urban environments are framed, curated and experienced. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, our analysis examines how music festival programmers curate the urban festival experience, for both loc…
Sensing Urban Values: Reassessing Urban Cultures and Histories Amidst Redevelopment Agendas
Introduction to Sensing Urban Values. This special issue assembles a set of papers that respond to a neglected, undertheorized yet crucial question relating to spatial politics and urban renewal: How do economic and non-economic values depend on and co-constitute each other in different urban contexts? In response, the contributors to this special issue build on recent critical reassessments of value; they explore how the spatial and cultural pol…
Researching Archival Histories of Radio
Introduction to the special issue on Historical Traces of European Radio Archives
Tracing the Archival Lives of Radio: Recorded Sound Collections in Belgian and Dutch Radio (1930s-1950s)
This article investigates the formation of recorded sound collections in Belgian and Dutch radio, which initially largely comprised commercial music discs, followed by recordings of radio music, spoken word content and sound effects. It focuses on the creation, management and use of radio sound recordings in the 1930s, as the forerunner to formalised historical archives following the Second World War, proposing to interpret this development in in…
Feminist avenues for listening in: Amplifying Silenced Histories of Media and Communication
This paper proposes a feminist critique of the media and communication field by offering a different soundtrack to guide future historical research. By shifting the focus from well-known protagonists, and acknowledging process and community rather than individuals, we aim to amplify ‘hidden’ domains of gendered labour and layers of media technologies and services. We propose the ‘listening in’ model as a different way to engage with histories of …
For the Love of Radio: The Archival Impulse in Broadcast Institutions
This chapter seeks to establish a clearer understanding of how an affective attachment to radio broadcasting relates to efforts to keep or save it. It proposes the term radiophilia as a new conceptual tool that can help make sense of strong attachments to radio, whether in the practices of broadcast professionals or radio listeners, fans, and critics. The chapter reflects on how radiophilia is similar to or different from other concepts (e.g. cin…
Hörspiel in the lab: The politics of interdisciplinary radio research in Germany (1928–45)
This article focuses on the establishment of new laboratories for radio research in Germany between 1928 and 1945, whereby the new discipline of radio studies and the collective work of artists, engineers and humanities scholars crucially advanced the development of the German Hörspiel (radio play). In turn, the embedding of the Hörspiel in these new ‘radio labs’ serves as an instructive prism for understanding the interdisciplinary and simultane…
Interconnecting Empires: Towards a Global Radio History of the Axis Powers (1930–1939)
This article builds on the growing body of transnational studies of fascist imperialism and explores their value for media historical research. To establish a global radio history of the Axis powers, we argue that it is productive to examine the crucial role of radio in interactions between Germany, Italy and Japan during the period prior to World War II (1939–1945). Focusing on the 1930s, we first establish the concurrent and intertwined process…
History (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Art (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · History (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Media studies (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media (5 works)