Journeys in and through sound (original) (raw)

In this special issue, we have sought to engage with researchers and documentary/arts practitioners using sound as a part of their inquiry into the social and beyond. We situate this issue within a burgeoning body of interdisciplinary work in sound studies, which has explored sonic possibilities in research and practice in sociology, history, anthropology, social geography, education, performance and cultural studies. The ephemeral nature of sound is part of what makes it special; its consumption is based on a temporal experience, a fleeting moment of comprehension that accumulates to create a greater understanding of the whole form (LaBelle, 2015). By focusing on the sonic qualities highlighted within these contributions, a layer of understanding is made possible that cannot be replicated in another form. To be clear, we are not saying that sound and phonographic methods (the use of recording and playback, see Gallagher and Prior, 2014) should be elevated above visual, textual and other sensory accounts, we want to continue to build on the argument that sound offers us a distinct way of understanding in terms of being and knowing (Sterne, 2012; Gershon, 2013; Feld and Brenneis, 2004). We agree with others (Pink, 2015; Bull and Back, 2016) who acknowledge the richness of sound as part of a multisensory shift in the methodological literature and also part of a turn toward the non-representational and performative. As a visceral and vibrational force, sound offers us considerations into that which falls between representational meaning, moving toward “how life is composed in the midst of affects” (Lorimer, 2008, p. 552). Aural approaches can articulate knowledge about places, spaces and the environments around us, conveying timbral information and frequency, but also the “immaterial, invisible, taken-for-granted atmospheres and emotional resonances” (Gallagher and Prior, 2014, p. 269). As LaBelle (2015) eloquently identifies what makes sound so extraordinary is its relationality, “it emanates, propagates, communicates, vibrates, and agitates; it sends the body moving, the mind dreaming, the air oscillating” (p. xi). As such, sound offers us something generative and emergent in the ontological and epistemological realms, holding the material and non-material in complexity through what Gallagher (2016) conceptualizes as “vibrational assemblages” (p. 43). In bringing this special issue together, we also sought to reflect the ideas of Gergen and Gergen’s (2011) about performative-oriented work that creates “truth zones” through creative, democratic and polyvocal knowledge pursuits. In crafting this special issue, we aimed to push back on hegemonic modes of knowledge production in the academy, which have often privileged written text as the sole channel through which we can collect, analyze represent and disseminate research. We also seek to contribute theory in relation to sound, rather than simply how sonic methods and techniques can be incorporated into qualitative research, following Back and Puwar’s (2012) call to mobilize sound and listening as a way to re-imagine modes of social research and develop social methods that are collaborative, imaginative and lively. Thus, we sought pieces that were generated from documentary studies and artistic-led practice, and those that are conceptualized as being anchored in qualitative methodology more broadly.