Wendy Bolitho
Doctor of Philosophy, (Sociology)
Study Completed: 2011
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Citation
Thesis Title
Silent Invocations: Music, Sublimation and Social Transformation
Read article at Massey Research Online:
Applying a wide range of musical experience to the close reading of Jacques Lacan鈥檚 Seminars and writings, Ms Bolitho鈥檚 thesis makes the case that 鈥榤usic鈥 鈥 understood as a performative and creative trans-subjective act of structuring sound 鈥 constitutes an alternative form of artistic 鈥榳riting practice鈥. As a social-cultural process analogous to psychoanalysis, musical improvisation and composition offer a constructive model that allows an expansion of Lacan鈥檚 concept of artistic sublimation. Following Jacques Attali鈥檚 suggestion that our intention is ''not only to theorise about music, but through music'', Ms Bolitho鈥檚 research suggests that musical paradigms of understanding embrace the dynamic flux of human relationality, and that music-making 鈥 as a cultural practice 鈥 enables a reconsideration of artistic sublimation and its potential as a site for social transformation.
Supervisors
Dr Warwick Tie
Associate Professor Jenny Lawn
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Last updated on Monday 04 April 2022