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Sounding Out Normative + Colour-Blind Listening in Acoustic Ecology
Nimalan Yoganathan
https://nimalanyoganathan.wordpress.com/

World Forum for Acoustic Ecology 2023 Conference
Friday, 24 March, 2023. Remote from Canada
(c) 2023

Abstract: This paper argues that the contemporary field of acoustic ecology has yet to seriously question and redress its history of problematic racial politics, and in many instances, continues to reinforce white normative modes of environmental listening. I will demonstrate how both foundational and contemporary acoustic ecology philosophies and key concepts largely fail to highlight the connections between the politics of noise/quiet and the politics of social difference.

I will start by surveying the dominant authorship and citation practices within leading journals that publish soundscape literature. I highlight how the canonical literature to a large degree lacks the perspectives of Indigenous, Black, and scholars of colour. In this paper, I argue for an inclusive approach to acoustic ecology scholarship that starts with critically examining how the subjective perception of aural environments is deeply influenced by the racial, class, sexual, gender, dis/ability, and auraldiverse identifications of listeners. I challenge ideas about noise, silence, and soundmarks in acoustic ecology literature. In particular, I highlight how the ideology of colour-blindness informs prominent acoustic ecologists and online sound map creators who documented the supposedly “quiet” COVID-19 lockdown soundscapes. I move on to examine alternative conceptions of urban acoustic design proposed by Black scholars like Allie Martin, Brandi Summers, and Erica Walker, all of whom work outside the field of acoustic ecology. These seldom-cited soundscape researchers interrogate the environmental listening and sound-making practices of BIPOC and marginalized communities. I draw on their work to underline the need for contemporary acoustic ecology research and creative practices to incorporate more intersectional and decolonial modes of environmental listening. I conclude by presenting the Listening to Country project as a model for acoustic ecology practices committed to social justice.

Bios: Nimalan Yoganathan is a PhD student in Communication Studies at Concordia University (Tiohtià:ke / Montreal). His research interests include critical soundscape studies, sonic activism, as well as decolonial and intersectional modes of environmental listening. Nimalan is also a sound artist who has conducted soundscape research and field-recording projects in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest and the Inuit community of Inukjuak, Nunavik.