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- Convenors:
-
Raffaella Fryer-Moreira
(University College London (UCL))
Sidali Sid (University College London (UCL))
Caragh Murphy-Collinson (UCL)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Sessions:
- Thursday 28 October, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
How can sound contribute towards new approaches to global conservation? This panel aims to diversify current conservation discourse via multi-disciplinary sonic engagements with ecology, deconstructing barriers between indigenous forms of ecological knowledge and scientific conservation models.
Long Abstract:
As the planet faces imminent ecocide, it is becoming increasingly apparent that global conservation models are unable to address current environmental challenges. The exclusion of indigenous knowledge systems from current conservation thinking reinforces the colonial hegemony that has shaped how human-ecology relationships are understood, and the exclusion of these knowledge systems limits the ways in which these relationships can be rethought. Contemporary conversations surrounding the Anthropocene concept (Stoermer & Crutzen 2000, Chakrabarty 2009, Moore 2012, Haraway 2015) have shown how multiple perspectives on human and more-than-human entanglements are key to understanding contemporary environmental crises and developing effective ecological management strategies. Among these perspectives, new methodologies have emerged as a source of ecological knowledge, and sonic ways of knowing have taken an increasingly prominent role (Feld 2003, 2004). Sound is often an important form ecological knowledge for indigenous communities, and data sonification is an emerging form of presenting data in Western science.
This panel seeks to rethink existing concepts of conservation through the medium of sound, drawing on methodological approaches such as deep listening, field recording, data sonification, sonic ecologies, soundscaping, ambisonics, and the investigation and presentation of ecological data through sonic installations. We invite papers which draw on sound as both an object and medium of analysis, exploring the role sound can play in the production of ecological knowledge and in the development of innovative conversation strategies. We particularly welcome presentations which include a sonic component either as part of the research methodology or as a core research output.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 28 October, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper presents a case study of the Nez Perce National Historical Park’s heritage sites and the ways in which sound and storytelling facilitates community engagement and the continuation of cultural knowledge.
Paper long abstract:
This paper presents a case study of the Nez Perce National Historical Park’s heritage sites and the ways in which sound and storytelling facilitates community engagement and the continuation of cultural knowledge. This paper explores how soundscapes at the Heart of the Monster site impacts, engages and transforms relationships between heritage sites, Indigenous communities and visitors to the Park. This case study illustrates how important the attitudes are of the federal government employees working at the Park who are crafting two-way relationships with community members while making a safe and welcoming space in which to exhibit and learn about the history of the Nez Perce people. Of utmost importance is the Park’s emphasis on the use of the Nez Perce language in creating spaces that are welcoming for community members to celebrate culture while educating the next generation about Nez Perce cultural heritage. This paper hopes to showcase a model upon which other cultural heritage sites can be framed.
Paper short abstract:
The auditive aspects of cultural heritage is one of several missing links to a new and needed ‘relational’ approach to characterization. In an integrative review including national tools, I search for assessment of sensuous character in architecture and the environments it inhabit.
Paper long abstract:
The building industry faces great challenges if we as a global society are to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda and The Paris Agreement. Solving these challenges means diminishing carbon emissions and resource consumption and calls for significant renovation and transformation of the existing built environment. A change of practice towards re-use may not only involve a more inclusive approach and attribution of value to the existing, but also a methodical shift for the tools we use in the field - Tools which are largely rooted in cultural heritage characterization and traditional representation formats from architecture.
One of the scholars who points to a needed shift in methodology is Donna Haraway, who proposes inclusion of ‘the relative, the heterogeneous temporalities and spatialities’ in our research for new answers and understandings. Coming from an interdisciplinary film and architectural background familiar with using film as a media to capture the heterogeneous interconnectedness of architecture and its surroundings, including the auditive, temporal and intangible, I have used the capacity of the film tool as my point of departure in an integrative literature review and exploration of national tools for cultural heritage characterization. My findings indicate a general absence of assessment of auditive aspects, with few national tools or guides as exceptions. This, despite the great impact of the auditive on the experience of cultural heritage, the importance of the auditive for indigenous communities, and the policy recommendations from international cultural heritage institutions.