Recently, I've been attempting to develop a viable methodological approach to capturing the sound-scapes of migrant spaces. This endeavor involves, among other aspects, navigating the issues of power dynamics in, of and through spaces, public-private negotiations, Self positionality and privilege, mediation of disruptive practices and sensibilities, ethical considerations as well as acquiring and usage of recording equipment.
It was while listening to NPR's "Invisibilia" podcast episode "The Great Narrative Escape" that I was intrigued by the idea of "slow television", and mainly the discussion on how "weak narratives" encourages us to engage -reflexively- in the absence of a preformed and performed storyline which become precursors for imagination and self-reflexivity (think of this almost 10-hour video of a train journey to the Norwegian Arctic Circle ).
It brought to mind the day effect of watching clouds, or why we enjoy watching the ocean. I will, eventually, develop this further to discuss the migrancy-scape of Mexican migrant men in Tijuana - the object of my doctoral thesis, but for now, I felt compelled to share an incredible example and source material.
What a weak narrative does is it hands your mind back to you.
Josh Cohen, psychoanalyst and a professor of literary theory at Goldsmiths, University of London.
I've recently encountered the term "soundwalking" as the practice of recording the sounds that make up a space and allows one to engage with a fuller understanding of the place and setting of the events taking place. Sounds are fundamental to our perception of our surroundings that impact the ways we view ourselves in the world. I think of my experience here in Tijuana and the constant, daily, ever-present rumble of helicopters patrolling the Mexico-United States border.
I take cue from the Listening Across Disciplines project developed by the University of the Arts London: https://www.listeningacrossdisciplines.net/podcasts/
Dr. Holger Schulze outlines 6 steps for engaged listening for effective registering of sounds in the field. He calls this his "listening protocol".
Listening as a research activity follows six steps in my work: spacing, timing, embodying, intervening, performing and transmitting.
Spacing: In a first step I try to get a notion and an idea of all the material sensory qualities of this very precise and spatialized listening situation in which I am situated right now: the distribution of the auditory dispositive, the state of my sensory corpus, and the quality of all the sonic personae present or performed.
Timing: In a second step I try to follow the specific dynamics and timing inherent to this sound experience, its flow or stopping, its vortexes and excitements.
Embodying: In the third step I try to embody and to identify with these sonic materials present in this situation – in their particular spacing and timing characteristics. This particular step brings my listening as research very close to ethnographic fieldwork practices.
Intervening In the fourth step I will make an effort to intervene, to follow the sonic flux, to actually take part in this sonario, to reach out into a perceptual and affective mimesis, to expand and further the sonic fiction presented to me.
Performing: In the fourth step I craft a performance of this listening experience – be it in written form, in an oral or audiovisual presentation or even in an impromptu recalling of all the qualities mentioned above.
Transmitting: In the fifth and last step the insights, observations and descriptions I recorded can then be presented on a given media stage – be it a course, a conference or workshop, an academic article, an essay, be it a radio or a podcast conversation or even a research monograph.
See his article Idiosyncrasy as Method Reflections on the epistemic continuum The "Cities and Memory" project is a great example of how auditory sense and sensation create markers of meaning and evoke feelings that cross landscapes as soundscapes
Within my dive into sonic-ethnographic research, I've come across a masterful example of the power of sound in field recording through the works of Isobel Anderson. As I continue to seek ways to capture the hybrid intricacies that permeate the sensations of being, longing and belonging in the field, I take a cue from Isobel as I let myself drift into the feelings of a storyline and let myself feel the narrative experience of Anderson.
Take a listen to her work These Places Should Only Ever Be Imagined and Thoughts in the Field and follow through with the great reflection on the embedded and self-reflexivity of the role, interplay and position of sound in field recordings in her coauthored article "Thoughts in the Field: ‘Self-reflexive narrative’ in field recording".
Extract from Anderson, I., & Rennie, T. (2016). Thoughts in the Field: ‘Self-reflexive narrative’ in field recording. Organised Sound,21(3), 222-232. doi:10.1017/S1355771816000194
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