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This conference seeks to critically investigate the potentials and pitfalls of the “material turn” through the medium of sound. We invite submissions that test, challenge, or refine materialist theories by examining the “acoustic state”: from the state of matter in vibration, the political State’s governance of the sonic realm to the affect of the social.
The recent “material turn” challenges us to reconsider the foundations of the humanities, the production of the voice, [anti/]biography of bodies (human or non-human; musical or otherwise), embodiment and the social and politicized relationship an object holds to its surroundings. We are invested in exploring the tension between performer/audience, ethnographer/informant, instrument/player, and so forth. A central question which arises from this endeavour is what are the potentials and pitfalls of an analysis that privileges the agency of matter?
We welcome proposals for 20-minute presentations (e.g. papers, performances, workshops, etc.) which address themes including, but not limited to:
– Sonic governance, power and the history of noise abatement
– The affective labor of the voice and its limits
– Embodiment, affect and sensory connection
– Listening practices and rituals of formation
– The sonic materiality of infrastructure vs. its political meaning
We especially encourage submissions with a strong regional focus that will contribute to our global conversation. Areas of particular interest include:
– East Asia: Acoustic states in Japan, Korea, and Greater China.
– South & Southeast Asia: Sound, ritual, and the political in historical and contemporary contexts.
– Latin America: The role of sound in social movements and cultural articulation.
– Africa: Sonic modernities, postcolonial soundscapes, and the politics of listening.
In addition to customary paper presentations, we are also particularly interested in different modes of scholarship and medium, such as audio papers, film screenings, workshops and experimental forms.
We are privileged to receive support from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard Korea Institute, the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, the Harvard University Asia Center, and the Harvard University Center for African Studies.
