Historical Acoustemology: Past, Present, and Future

Mansell, James

Abstract

This article surveys the field and methodology of historical acoustemology, an interdisciplinary area of study dedicated to understanding past sounds, hearers, and listeners in their historical contexts. The article charts the field’s emergence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, accounts for the field’s present trends (which center on the politics of listening subjectivity), and identifies future directions of inquiry. The article argues that historians should take account of a broader spectrum of past listeners, not just listening experts, and develop greater criticality about their own knowing-through-listening. The article makes the case for a future sound historical field grounded in the analysis of nonwritten sources, particularly sound archives and material culture, and argues that the use of new digital methods and the engagement of listening publics through a new public sound history should also become central to the work of the sound historian.

Citation

Mansell, J. (2021). Historical Acoustemology: Past, Present, and Future. Music Research Annual, 2, 1-19

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 30, 2020
• Online Publication Date: May 31, 2021
• Publication Date: May 31, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jun 13, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 22, 2021
• Journal: Music Research Annual
• Electronic ISSN: 2563-7290
• Publisher: Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Pages: 1-19
• Keywords: historical acoustemology, sound studies, listening, soundscapes, public sound history
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5684243
• Publisher URL: https://musicresearchannual.org/mansellhistorical-acoustemology/
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