Unit:
Specialty Science, Technology, Society-Science and Technology StudiesLibrary of the School of Science
Supervisors info:
Aristotle Tympas, Director, Interdepartmental Graduate Program 'Science, Technology, Society / Science and Technology Studies (STS), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Maria Roussou, Assistant Professor, Department of IT and Telecommunications, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Dr. Manolis Simos, Adjunct Faculty, Interdepartmental Graduate Program 'Science, Technology, Society / Science and Technology Studies (STS), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Original Title:
Black-Boxed Disc Jocks: An STS Approach to DJ Performance
Translated title:
Black-Boxed Disc Jocks: An STS Approach to DJ Performance
Summary:
This thesis applies an STS perspective to the history of DJ performance, and particularly to the question of how DJs acquired the status of author.
It begins with a review of contemporary theories of authorship, including work by Barthes, Foucault and Bourdieu. It then provides a review of STS history and theory, including the work of Bloor, Pinch, Bijker and Latour.
The history of DJ performance is then reviewed through the lens of STS theory, particularly Actor-Network-Theory. Using an STS approach, it is demonstrated that the technological development in the world of DJ performance is not deterministic or based on objective standards of technological improvement, but rather is a response to the particular networks of actors, human and non-human, that hold in various situations. It demonstrates how this technology shapes (or does not shape) the construction of authorship in response to the pressures of these networks.
The paper concludes with an empirical analysis demonstrating the black-boxing of the DJ profession, the reduction of a complex skillset to a simple piece of technological manipulation (a black box).
Main subject category:
Science
Other subject categories:
Social, Political and Economic sciences
Keywords:
STS, Actor-Network-Theory, ANT, Music, Authorship, DJ, Electronic Music, Technology, Black Box, Latour
