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What Sounds Do – Open Call for Papers

Inspired by the conference WHAT SOUNDS DO which took place September
13-16, 2022 in Copenhagen, Seismograf Magazine is opening a call for audio and research papers on the topic, for a new special issue that points to “new directions in an anthropology of sound.” Here’s the official info:

“Sounds are ever present: They envelop and permeate us, consolidating, dissolving and complicating relationships. Through a genuine agency of their own, sounds can articulate protest or approval, serve as a political statement or thought, and establish ties between people, entities and environments.

This special issue of audio papers and research papers aims to chart new directions in an anthropology of sound (Schulze 2021) – focusing on the interpersonal, social, and political. What can sounds do? What agencies and articulations do sonic events and practices convey (LaBelle 2018)? Which forms of audible protest contribute to the current political discourse? What personae are audibly performed – in historical eras, in the present or in the near future (Schulze 2018)? Sound events and experiences make tangible how particular personae manifest themselves within their social sphere. What social relationships develop through sound, such as in, for example, Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations and Deep Listening™ practice? How can sonic sensibilities contribute to new bodies of knowledge (Voegelin 2021)? How does this articulate in cultural contexts other than Western ones (Robinson 2020)?

Potential topics for submissions include – but are not limited to:

  • Historical or current examples of activism and sound practices that empower a social group or community and materialize or even strengthen its agency
  • Participation and involvement of the audience, visitors and listeners in sound art works or performances- domestic practices and everyday situations in which interaction with a sound or a sonic ecology has a strong effect and inspires action
  • Marginalized or suppressed sensibilities as well as forms of knowledge and idiosyncratic fictions that are only recognised through their sonic articulation
  • Sonic phenomena that instigate world building processes and cultural development – maybe even altering social structures and their inherent belief systems
  • Surprising sonic stimuli for users that can be found in the sound design of existing or imaginary instruments, everyday tools or consumer goods”

Deadline is February 10, 2023. More info at Seismograf