Bearing Witness to Violence Through Noise: A Critical Exploration of Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck’s Affective Curriculum

This paper explores the nature of earwitnessing, or the act of bearing witness through sound, via noise. Employing Thompson’s (2017) definition of the term, I argue that noise holds the pedagogical potential to address critiques of bearing witness and pose a challenge to violent relations within the broader milieu. I do so by placing Thompson and other’s affective theorizations of sound in conversation with writings on affect in education. I then introduce scholarship on the educative potential of bearing witness to illustrate how noise can respond to the political shortcomings of witnessing by creating a pedagogical opening to critically reimagine affective economies. Finally, I ground this exploration within the album Runzelstock & Gurgelstirn by Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck. Through the intentional deployment of noise, the album embodies the curricular potential of earwitnessing as a means to reckon with the affective relations that undergird violence.