Critical Race Studies into Soundscape Studies
With Nimalan Yoganathan
Nimalan Yoganathan is a PhD student in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University. Yoganathan’s research incorporates concepts from critical race studies into the field of soundscape studies.
In this video
Themes
- Anti-Black racism
- Indigeneity
- Race, Media, Technology
Yoganathan offers examples of the ways that sound can be deployed in anti-racist and decolonial resistance.
Taking action
- Incorporate critical and intersectional methodologies into sound and communication studies
- Pay attention to the acoustic world — what can and cannot be heard
- Ask yourself, what do social justice movements sound like?
Resources
- Akiyama, Mitchell. (2015). Soundscapes of Canada and the politics of self-recognition. Sounding Out!
- Chakravartty, Paul, Kuo, Rachel, Grubbs, Victoria, & McIlwain, Charlton. (2018). #CommunicationSoWhite. Journal of Communication, 68(1), 254-266.
- Crenshaw, Kimberlé. (1997). Color-blind dreams and racial nightmares: Reconfiguring racism in the post-Civil-Rights era. In T. Morrison & C. B. Lacour (Eds.), Birth of a nation’hood. New York: Pantheon Books.
- de Certeau, Michel. (1988). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Delaurenti, Christopher. (2015). Making activist sound. Leonardo Music Journal, 25(1), 93-99.
- Jordan, Randolph. (2015). Unsettling the World Soundscape Project: The bell tower of False Creek, Vancouver. Sounding Out!
- Martin, Allie. (2019). Hearing change in the chocolate city: Soundwalking as black feminist method. Sounding Out!
- Maynard, Robyn, & Ritchie, Andrea. (2020). Black communities need support, not a Coronavirus police state. Vice.
- Nardone, Michael. (2016). Skirmish at the oasis: On sonic disobedience. Leonardo Music Journal, 26(1), 92-96.
- Policing the Pandemic Mapping Project
- Quan, Douglas. (2020). Listen up: In these disquieting COVID-19 times, hushed cities are making a loud impression on our ears. The Toronto Star.
- Quashie, Kevin. (2012). The sovereignty of quiet: Beyond resistance in black culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Rice, Tom. (2016). Sounds inside: Prison, prisoners and acoustical agency. Sound Studies, 2(1), 6-20.
- Stadler, Gustavus. (2015). On whiteness and sound studies. Sounding Out!
- Stoever, Jennifer. (2016). The sonic color line: Race and the cultural politics of listening. New York: NYU Press.
- Walker, Erica. (2020). The depths of a quiet soundscape. Newcities.
- Westerkamp, Hildegard. (2002). Linking soundscape composition and acoustic ecology. Organised Sound, 7(1), 51-6
- World Soundscape Project
- Idle No More round dance sonic protests
- NFL player Malcolm Jenkins’ silent protest
- Palestinian rapper Muqata’a samples the soundscapes of Israeli occupation