Thesis Supervisor: Antonia Majaca

Thesis: Non-Originary Pop

July 2020

Abstract

In Bernard Stiegler's formulation of how temporality and nominally held human subjectivity are constituted by technological artefacts, the recorded melody is casted a pivotal role. Stiegler's recorded melody exhibits remarkable similarities to the hook of a pop music. This thesis puts Stiegler's use of the recorded melody into conversation with pop music and writings on pop music. Guided by Eurydice's indifference towards returning to the living in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, I argue that by thinking about technology and nominal human subjectivity through pop music, their assumed mutual co-constituency dissolves.

Author: Mandus Ridefelt