A Sonic Anthropocene. Sound Practices in a Changing Environment

Abstract

The introduction to this double issue entitled “A Sonic Anthropocene: Sound Practices in a Changing Environment” explores some of the concepts and methodological issues that inform our understanding of what we call the “Sonic Anthropocene”. We argue that incorporating practices of listening and aural documentation that register the transformations in the acoustic landscape creates a space of potential for examining the increasing impact of human activity on the environment. This introduction is divided into six sections. First, we provide an overview of the notion of the Anthropocene. Secondly, we explore the relationship between sound, environment and perception as cultivated by different strands of scholarship. Thirdly, we discuss the capacity of ethnography to generate new insights into the conditions of life in the Anthropocene. With this in mind, we highlight various examples of collaboration between environmental sound artists, researchers, and activists. Lastly, we introduce the essays included in this first volume. Ultimately, this double issue seeks to contribute toward sounding the Anthropocene by placing sound at the centre of an interdisciplinary conversation about the economic, social, cultural, political and ecological processes that underlie the currently ongoing planetary transformations.