Max Ritts: "Audible Formations? Development Geographies and Sound Studies."

Ethnomusicology Lecture: Max Ritts, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University

In what ways does industrial development manifest, to invoke Radano and Olaniyan (2015), as an "audible formation" - that is, as an articulated set of social practices, institutional discourses, and economic logics? What sorts of 'sonic turns' do development pressures instigate? To what extent might these impart both the longue durée processes of modernity as well as the unruly temporalities of the Anthropocene? And finally, what is the geographical extent of a development aurality? Do particular development geographies manifest particularized forms of sound-making, listening, and composing, and if so, what sorts of analytic methods do they recommend? This talk attempts to broach these questions by way of an introduction to my new book A Resonant Ecology (Duke UP 2024). An ethnography of development, A Resonant Ecology investigates a transformative period in the history of the North Coast (British Columbia, CAN), marked by emergent global governance discourses, multiplying ecological destabilizations, ongoing forms of settler colonial rule, and Indigenous cultural resurgence. Here, I propose that a seemingly discrete set of sonic moments - a cetacean abundance study, an underwater mapping effort, an anthropogenic noise conflict, Indigenous black metal - can be used to build a prismatic portrait of a region in flux and affirm its significance to several sound studies debates.

Admission is free - No need to purchase tickets to attend.