Anne Karpf | London Metropolitan University (original) (raw)
Papers by Anne Karpf
Ever since Athenian orators studied the art of rhetoric it has been understood that the human voi... more Ever since Athenian orators studied the art of rhetoric it has been understood that the human voice, skilfully deployed, has the power to command attention, turn minds and sway emotions. The most powerful male politicians of the twentieth century-Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt-used their voices to display and amplify their power. Yet women's voices are rarely discussed in the context of political power. On the contrary, women's voices are more commonly characterised by their (actual or potential) erotic power. The female voice has long been a site of anxiety and taboos against women speaking have a long history: the best way to be properly womanly was to desist from speaking altogether. St Paul urged men to «Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. […] For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church» 2. According to Aristotle, «Silence is a woman's glory» 3. In the 5 th century Sophocles's Ajax declared that «Silence gives the proper grace to women» 4. As a 16 th century writer on rhetoric put it, «What becometh a woman best, and first of all: Silence. What second: Silence. What third: Silence. What fourth: Silence» 5. Beard 6 has argued that the effects of the active exclusion of women from the public sphere of speech in Greco-Roman times, along with the abomination of those who 1 This paper originated in a presentation given at Vocal Folds:
... Thanks to Sue Summers for recommending the excellent Pippa Worrell, who, along with my other ... more ... Thanks to Sue Summers for recommending the excellent Pippa Worrell, who, along with my other brilliant physiotherapist Nikki Jackson, helped me to walk again. ... The voice can also make sen-tences do somersaults. 'I don't think so' might be an innocent expression of ...
The MIT Press eBooks, May 9, 2023
Routledge eBooks, Nov 8, 2022
Medical Journal of Australia, 1954
The submission, comprising nine outputs, ranges from journal articles and a book to a podcast and... more The submission, comprising nine outputs, ranges from journal articles and a book to a podcast and a radio programme. The accompanying commentary aims to contextualise the submitted work, demonstrate that it constitutes a coherent whole and that it makes a significant, original contribution to the field of cultural studies. The submission and commentary contest the idea that the voice has become less important than text and image in an era that has come to be known as one of 'secondary orality'. The outputs set out to demonstrate that, although metaphorical and narrative meanings of 'voice' have come to displace a sense of the audible voice in popular discourse as well as in many scholarly texts, it remains a prime and powerful modality in both human communication and new technologies. Applying the approach of psycho-social studies to the voice in a novel and original way, the outputs draw on semi-structured interviews, archive research and cultural analysis to argue ...
Women's Studies International Quarterly, 1980
Donald W. Winnicott and the History of the Present, 2018
An entertaining and very illuminating look at the interaction between the media and the medical p... more An entertaining and very illuminating look at the interaction between the media and the medical profession, covering everything from the radio doctors of the 1930s to the ethical and political issues behind the media's coverage of AIDS.
The War After (Karpf, 1996), a family memoir about the psycho-social effects of the Holocaust on ... more The War After (Karpf, 1996), a family memoir about the psycho-social effects of the Holocaust on the children of survivors, attracted considerable attention when first published. 20 years later, Karpf argues, it can be read as an example of post-postmemory. Hirsch (2012) defined postmemory as those memories of the Holocaust that the 'second generation' had of events that shaped their lives but took place before they were born. Post-postmemory, Karpf suggests, is the process whereby such narratives are themselves modified by subsequent events and re-readings brought about by three kinds of time - personal, historical and discursive. Although inevitable, such re-readings run the risk of encouraging Holocaust revisionism and denial. Nevertheless, Karpf claims, they are essential to maintain the post-memoir as a living text.
There is an excellent fit between the speaking voice and the psychosocial approach, in that the v... more There is an excellent fit between the speaking voice and the psychosocial approach, in that the voice connects inner and outer worlds while simultaneously challenging such a division. It remains, however, relatively neglected, both as a psychosocial research resource and as a topic for the psychosocial researcher. This article argues that, while researchers are developing increasingly sophisticated ways of harnessing visual research methods, the oral dimension remains marginalised, with voice almost invariably collapsed into speech. Despite the methodological challenges created by using the voice as a psychosocial research tool, attention to the paralinguistic has the potential to enrich research and deepen our psychosocial understanding of human behaviour.
This article explores the representation of the voice in texts about oral history over the years,... more This article explores the representation of the voice in texts about oral history over the years, arguing that too often it has been seen as a mechanism for retrieving otherwise inaccessible testimony rather than as a rich medium in its own right. Such a stance, however, is being modified, it suggests, as new digital technologies develop the potential to breach the chasm between the oral and the written.
Ever since Athenian orators studied the art of rhetoric it has been understood that the human voi... more Ever since Athenian orators studied the art of rhetoric it has been understood that the human voice, skilfully deployed, has the power to command attention, turn minds and sway emotions. The most powerful male politicians of the twentieth century-Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt-used their voices to display and amplify their power. Yet women's voices are rarely discussed in the context of political power. On the contrary, women's voices are more commonly characterised by their (actual or potential) erotic power. The female voice has long been a site of anxiety and taboos against women speaking have a long history: the best way to be properly womanly was to desist from speaking altogether. St Paul urged men to «Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. […] For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church» 2. According to Aristotle, «Silence is a woman's glory» 3. In the 5 th century Sophocles's Ajax declared that «Silence gives the proper grace to women» 4. As a 16 th century writer on rhetoric put it, «What becometh a woman best, and first of all: Silence. What second: Silence. What third: Silence. What fourth: Silence» 5. Beard 6 has argued that the effects of the active exclusion of women from the public sphere of speech in Greco-Roman times, along with the abomination of those who 1 This paper originated in a presentation given at Vocal Folds:
... Thanks to Sue Summers for recommending the excellent Pippa Worrell, who, along with my other ... more ... Thanks to Sue Summers for recommending the excellent Pippa Worrell, who, along with my other brilliant physiotherapist Nikki Jackson, helped me to walk again. ... The voice can also make sen-tences do somersaults. 'I don't think so' might be an innocent expression of ...
The MIT Press eBooks, May 9, 2023
Routledge eBooks, Nov 8, 2022
Medical Journal of Australia, 1954
The submission, comprising nine outputs, ranges from journal articles and a book to a podcast and... more The submission, comprising nine outputs, ranges from journal articles and a book to a podcast and a radio programme. The accompanying commentary aims to contextualise the submitted work, demonstrate that it constitutes a coherent whole and that it makes a significant, original contribution to the field of cultural studies. The submission and commentary contest the idea that the voice has become less important than text and image in an era that has come to be known as one of 'secondary orality'. The outputs set out to demonstrate that, although metaphorical and narrative meanings of 'voice' have come to displace a sense of the audible voice in popular discourse as well as in many scholarly texts, it remains a prime and powerful modality in both human communication and new technologies. Applying the approach of psycho-social studies to the voice in a novel and original way, the outputs draw on semi-structured interviews, archive research and cultural analysis to argue ...
Women's Studies International Quarterly, 1980
Donald W. Winnicott and the History of the Present, 2018
An entertaining and very illuminating look at the interaction between the media and the medical p... more An entertaining and very illuminating look at the interaction between the media and the medical profession, covering everything from the radio doctors of the 1930s to the ethical and political issues behind the media's coverage of AIDS.
The War After (Karpf, 1996), a family memoir about the psycho-social effects of the Holocaust on ... more The War After (Karpf, 1996), a family memoir about the psycho-social effects of the Holocaust on the children of survivors, attracted considerable attention when first published. 20 years later, Karpf argues, it can be read as an example of post-postmemory. Hirsch (2012) defined postmemory as those memories of the Holocaust that the 'second generation' had of events that shaped their lives but took place before they were born. Post-postmemory, Karpf suggests, is the process whereby such narratives are themselves modified by subsequent events and re-readings brought about by three kinds of time - personal, historical and discursive. Although inevitable, such re-readings run the risk of encouraging Holocaust revisionism and denial. Nevertheless, Karpf claims, they are essential to maintain the post-memoir as a living text.
There is an excellent fit between the speaking voice and the psychosocial approach, in that the v... more There is an excellent fit between the speaking voice and the psychosocial approach, in that the voice connects inner and outer worlds while simultaneously challenging such a division. It remains, however, relatively neglected, both as a psychosocial research resource and as a topic for the psychosocial researcher. This article argues that, while researchers are developing increasingly sophisticated ways of harnessing visual research methods, the oral dimension remains marginalised, with voice almost invariably collapsed into speech. Despite the methodological challenges created by using the voice as a psychosocial research tool, attention to the paralinguistic has the potential to enrich research and deepen our psychosocial understanding of human behaviour.
This article explores the representation of the voice in texts about oral history over the years,... more This article explores the representation of the voice in texts about oral history over the years, arguing that too often it has been seen as a mechanism for retrieving otherwise inaccessible testimony rather than as a rich medium in its own right. Such a stance, however, is being modified, it suggests, as new digital technologies develop the potential to breach the chasm between the oral and the written.