Скачать или смотреть Political Acoustic Ecology: A Research Agenda - Arnim Scheidel

Political Acoustic Ecology: A Research Agenda
Arnim Scheidel
https://uab.academia.edu/ArnimScheidel

World Forum for Acoustic Ecology 2023 Conference
Thursday, 23 March, 2023
(c) 2023

Abstract: What role can Political Ecology play within studies of Acoustic Ecology? As environmental change is rapidly transforming soundscapes along the frontiers and routes of resource extractions, trade, consumption, and disposal, important questions arise about how current acoustic environmental change is embedded in diverse political-economic structures, how resulting sonic burdens and benefits are distributed among social groups, as well as how affected communities, activists and movements may respond to adverse acoustic environmental change. This paper reviews and explores how a creative combination of concerns and methodologies from the maturing fields of Political Ecology and Acoustic Ecology may offer fresh perspectives on the socio-political dimensions of acoustic environmental change. Such a "Political Acoustic Ecology" may particularly shed light on the complex interplay of ultimate and proximate drivers of acoustic environmental change; on questions of who should be accountable for sonic footprints; or on who benefits from “virtual noise” embodied in trade flows and consumer goods. Knowledge co-production, e.g., through participatory soundmapping and exploration of local sound histories and listening practices, can include the voices of marginalized groups with diverse acoustemologies into sound and noise studies. A focus on social conflicts over noise-intense projects, such as mines, industries, and transport routes, may reveal not only the uneven distributions of sonic burdens across diverse human and non-human groups forming part of acoustic communities, but also how affected groups, activists, and social movements, who politicize and contest noisy environments, may become important agents of change that reshape soundscapes towards socially more just and ecologically more sustainable acoustic spaces. The paper explores these intersections of Political Ecology and Acoustic Ecology and proposes a research agenda for "Political Acoustic Ecology".

Bio: Arnim Scheidel is a Ramón y Cajal Senior Research fellow at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), Spain, and Adjunct Professor at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. His research focuses on the social dimensions of global agrarian and environmental change and aims to understand the role that citizens, activists and environmental movements play in responding to environmental crises, supporting sustainability transformations and imagining alternatives. As part of his work, he has been deeply involved in the creation of the Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas, www.ejatlas.org) that documents environmental conflicts and mobilizations for more just and sustainable futures worldwide. Arnim is also a violinist and co-founder of the band Saffran! (World Music, Barcelona) with which he has performed in numerous festivals across Europe. He has collaborated as composer and performer with various theater companies, including “Theater im Kuerbis” (Austria), “Teatro de los Sentidos” (Theater of the Senses, Spain), “Cia. Candida” (Spain), “ProjectA” (Spain), and “Cia. Kainos teatre” (Spain). He recently discovered the field of soundscape studies and acoustic ecology. In his current and future work he is aiming to explore more closely the intersections between acoustic environmental change, political ecology and environmental justice.