Sounding Bodies Sounding Worlds: An Exploration of Embodiments in Sound

227 Pages·2020·2.629 MB·English

by  Mickey Vallee

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN SOUND
Sounding Bodies
Sounding Worlds
An Exploration of Embodiments in Sound
Mickey Vallee
Palgrave Studies in Sound
Series Editor
Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Musik
Aalborg University
Aalborg, Denmark
Palgrave Studies in Sound is an interdisciplinary series devoted to the
topic of sound with each volume framing and focusing on sound as it is
conceptualized in a specific context or field. In its broad reach, Studies
in Sound aims to illuminate not only the diversity and complexity of
our understanding and experience of sound but also the myriad ways in
which sound is conceptualized and utilized in diverse domains. The series
is edited by Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard, The Obel Professor of Music at
Aalborg University, and is curated by members of the university’s Music
and Sound Knowledge Group.
Editorial Board
Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (series editor)
Martin Knakkergaard
Mads Walther-Hansen
Kristine Ringsager
Editorial Committee
Michael Bull
Barry Truax
Trevor Cox
Karen Collins
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15081
Mickey Vallee
Sounding Bodies
Sounding Worlds
An Exploration of Embodiments
in Sound
Mickey Vallee
Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies
Athabasca University
Athabasca, AB, Canada
Palgrave Studies in Sound
ISBN 978-981-32-9326-7 ISBN 978-981-32-9327-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9327-4
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
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For Winter and for Wren
My favourite season and favourite bird
Acknowledgements
This book was written on Treaty 6 (the ancestral and traditional ter-
ritory of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, as well
as the Métis), Treaty 7 (the ancestral and traditional territory of the
Blackfoot Confederacy: Kainai, Piikani and Siksika as well as the Tsuu
T’ina First Nation and Stoney Nakoda First Nation), and Treaty 8
(the ancestral and traditional territory of the Cree, Dene, as well as the
Métis) territories.
Much of the empirical research for this book was undertaken in
field sites from 2016 to 2018 around Alberta, Canada, at Waterton
Lakes National Park, Wood Buffalo National Park, and the Frank
Slide Interpretive Centre, as well as the Bayne Lab at the University of
Alberta. I am particularly grateful to the time provided by Erin Bayne
and Elly Knight at the University of Alberta, and Helena Mahoney and
Barb Johnston at Waterton, for introducing me to the wonderful world
of bioacoustics. The more theoretical endeavours of this book were
made possible through conversations facilitated by the Posthumanism
Research Institute, especially by Christine Daigle at Brock University
and Russel Kilbourn at Wilfrid Laurier University. The preliminary
stage of this research was facilitated by Jan Jagodzinsky’s generous
vii
viii Acknowledgements
invitation to speak to the issue of sound and environmental uncertainty
at the University of Alberta in 2015. My graduate students, Marie-
Josée Beaulieu, David Stewart, and Priscilla McGreer, provided many
useful comments on interdisciplinary research, as well. I also benefited
greatly from the many conversations with my former doctoral super-
visor and now research collaborator, Rob Shields, whose many conver-
sations still serve as a guiding light for much of my work. I am also
grateful to Michael Gallagher, who invited me to speak at Manchester
Metropolitan University on the topic of voice and sound, and who also
commented on sections of the book with generosity and openness. Ada
Jaarsma and Simon Dawes also commented on sections of the work that
were of enormous help.
I would like to extend a special thanks to Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
for believing in this work, and to Jonathan Sterne for his preliminary
guidance and comments on the project. Senior Commissioning Editor
Josh Pitt demonstrated patience and goodwill while I was writing and
editing this book. DL Wybert’s editorial comments taught me much
about the craft of writing.
Countless conversations and discussions go into the making of
research, and there are too many to count from over the years. Other
nodes in the network of the support include Jason Wallin, Sourayan
Mookerjea, Natalie Loveless, Harvey Krahn, Paul Théberge, Jonathan
Sterne, Sha Xin Wei, Will Straw, Trevor Pinch, Stefan Helmreich,
Julie Laplante, Susan McDaniel, Jennifer Gabrys, Ondine Park, Cary
Wolfe, JH, Andriko Lozowy, Carolina Cambre, Francesca Mackenney,
W. Tecumseh Fitch, Jody Berland, John Shepherd, Mike Gismondi,
Paul Kellogg, Wendell Kesner, Max Ritts, and many others whose
mistaken absence from this list should not imply ingratitude. I have
benefited greatly from the many people I met and talked to at the
annual meetings for the Society for the Social Studies of Science,
Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, Society for Existential
and Phenomenological Theories of Culture, Canadian Sociological
Association, Canadian Communication Association, and American
Sociological Association.
Much of this book is new. But bits and earlier drafts of the chap-
ters have appeared in such venues as Theory, Culture & Society, Body &
Acknowledgements ix
Society, Parallax, Space & Culture, The Oxford Handbook of Sound and
the Imagination (Vol. 2), and Interrogating the Anthropocene (Palgrave,
2018).
The research for this book was undertaken, in part, thanks to fund-
ing from the Canada Research Chairs program. It was also supported
generously by an Insight Development Grant from the Social Science
and Humanities Research Council of Canada, as well as a John R Evans
Leaders Funds award from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Contents
1 Introduction: Sounding 1
2 Sounding Voice 25
3 Sounding Between Bodies 59
4 Sounding Ecologies 87
5 Sounding Data 111
6 Sounding Place 145
7 Conclusion: Sounding Worlds 175
References 191
Index 213
xi