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- Convenors:
-
Matthias Lewy
(Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts)
Patricia Jäggi (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts)
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- Stream:
- Extinction
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 31 March, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Silence is a prevalent extinction topos that is not only multisensorial but also resonates in different concepts and modes of existence. This panel aims to reveal different qualities of silence and silencing and the related strategies of reverse-silencing in Indigenous and non-indigenous world(s).
Long Abstract:
Extinction is not only a phenomenon of silencing species, but also one that often happens silently itself, unnoticed by humans. When certain birds disappear, the declining richness in sound and biodiversity may go unheeded. For Indigenous societies dependent on animals for their livelihood, the silencing of animals intensifies dependence on governmental nutrition programs (e.g. in Brazil). Silence may thus serve as an indicator for losses in the perception of the environment.
Silences are perceived multisensorially and reflected in different concepts and/or modes of existence. A striking response to this phenomenon is reverse-silencing, in which people connect with and express (new) trans- and interspecific worlds, not only addressing losses, but also imagining futures that are non-silent, vivid, and - most importantly - that do not silence other beings. Among Indigenous strategies of reverse-silencing are interspecies communications with animals and other spirits by re-activating shamanic and other ritual forms (e.g. Guianas, Pemon). Silence in and of itself can hold hopes for the continuity of human and non-human world(s). The sudden quieting of humans during the Covid-19 lockdown, for example, gave way to imaginings of a world in which humans do not dominate the environment but rather hold back and share the space with others.
In this panel we would like to reflect on the process of extinction as a creeping silent threat that needs not only to be heard and articulated but also to be felt and expressed in various artistic forms. We welcome contributions that deal with silence, silencing, and reverse-silencing.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 31 March, 2021, -Gergely Loch (Liszt Academy of Music)
Paper short abstract:
Margaret Island (Budapest, Hungary) fell silent after its birds had been driven away by the environmental devastation of World War II. I present how and why Ernő Szép (1884-1953), one of the foremost literary figures of interwar Hungary pursued a one-man activity of reverse-silencing in 1946.
Paper long abstract:
Margaret Island is a major island and public park of Budapest on the Danube, an area noted for an abundance of birds that is striking given the proximity of the crowded city center. In the winter of 1944-45, during the siege of Budapest, the island was turned into a battle-ground. The environmental devastation drove away the birds, making the area silent for the following springs. In the spring of 1946, Ernő Szép (1884-1953), one of the most significant literary figures of interwar Hungary and a long-time resident of Margaret Island, started a one-man activity of reverse-silencing. By talking about this activity and its historical background, I present some of the ways in which the fate of birds is connected with the fate of humans - in this particular case, the personal fate of Ernő Szép and the history of Hungary in the first half of the 20th century.
Helena Simonett (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts)
Paper short abstract:
In their ceremonies, Indigenous dancers wear leg rattles made of cocoons of a giant moth that was once endemic to the region, but is now on the verge of extinction. Caused by environmental degradation due to unsustainable human activities, the shortage of cocoons calls for inventive strategies.
Paper long abstract:
Toxins are widely used by agribusinesses in northwestern Mexico to combat insect pests, but they also kill non-target species such as saturniids—and are responsible for the rising number of new cases of leukemia, particularly among children. There is no question that the region’s ecosystem is severely out of balance. But while moths develop circumventory strategies such as migrating to avoid detrimental living conditions, human beings seem less adaptive. Drug-trafficking related violence in the region further aggravates the already precarious living conditions of the Indigenous (Yoreme) and other marginalized peoples.
Yoreme cultural life is still embedded in an ecological worldview that clashes with the economic reality of an export-oriented agricultural industry that sustains their livelihood as agricultural day workers. In their ceremonies, dancers wear leg rattles made of cocoons of a giant moth that was once endemic to the region, but is now on the verge of extinction. The materiality of this unique “sound maker” is of prime importance to the culture bearers because it is entangled epistemologically, ontologically, and cosmologically with the animate and inanimate environment of their living space. However, the shortage of cocoons in recent years has forced ceremonial dancers to be inventive: plastic water hoses and aluminum cans are used as substitution for the cocoons. Although Indigenous peoples’ capacity to re-elaborate and reformulate their own cultural practices has proven to be a compelling strategy for ethno-cultural survival, some Yoreme doubt that the ceremonies can go on without the insect-made sound makers.
Matthias Lewy (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts)
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to show different qualities of silence and the related strategies of reverse-silencing in the indigenous communities of the Guianas.
Paper long abstract:
Different forms of silencing can be noted for the indigenous people in the Guianas over the last decades. One of the main qualities of silencing is the loss of animal sounds. These sounds are signs that often refer to non-human entities inside the different layers of the multiverse. In particular, game animals have left their ancestral territories.
It is often argued that this loss is due to the lack of trans-specific communication between pia'san (shaman) and/or ipukenak (wise person) and these non-human entities. This is directly related to the penetration of Christian missionaries and non-indigenous residents over the last 80 years and the associated economic transformation. Furthermore, the illegal invasions of indigenous territories by non-indigenous miners is of particular importance. This is most evident in Venezuela, where the indigenous territory has been even militarized by the state. The increasing impoverishment and the loss of economic security have resulted in a return to indigenous production methods (horticulture), requiring a re-stabilization of relationships with non-human entities. The lack of specialists in this context has brought about a collectivization of well-known sound-defined rituals. In addition to the interaction with the animal world, these forms of reverse-silencing have also reactivated transcendent communication with the plant world, such as interaction with the human interiority of the yucca plant.
Besides these examples, other strategies of reverse-silencing will be demonstrated, aiming to reveal ontological relations which have to be understood as a base for reverse-silencing strategies in indigenous and non-indigenous worlds.