Among other things, the report is based on findings from a 2019 workshop. Participation was enabled through funding from CMES as well as Aga Khan University.
How does sound shape and/or constrain the actions of individuals and groups? In what ways does “touching sound” constitute important stimuli within everyday experiences and how/why does sound induce strong affective states? How does listening to noise as well as to silences, screeches and songs, clicks and pops, affect us? By focusing on the under-studied realm of sound we will increase our understanding of the politics of the sonic, helping scholars move beyond conventional approaches to studying spaces in motion as well as spaces where motion has been forcibly stilled – by curfew, war, disease, etc.; opening up space to investigate the non-conscious forces that have a profound influence on our thinking and decisions in moments of intensity. From the perspective of research, this text opens an interdisciplinary conduit that should enable cross-fertilizations between the disciplines of anthropology, ethnomusicology, history, cultural studies, religious studies and political sociology, bringing together studies of aesthetic production, the environment, sub- and counter-cultures and technologies and affective dimensions of state as well as societal power and contestation.