- In the article, it is stated that David Dunn’s inspiration derives from his conviction that there is “a deep and profound intelligence innate to all of life.” Dunn specifically says that ” what science reveals to us about the communicative intent of other living things will appear comically shallow to us in a hundred years.” What does this statement mean to you? How would the world be affected if others held the same stance? Would current events reflect this view?
- Steve Feld focuses on the Kaluli’s “lift-up-over-sounding” sound. From the article’s description, do you see similar sounds in your daily lives? Would you believe it is exactly like the West’s idea of Harmony? If not, how so?
- Feld calls his work “”acoustemology”, a sonic way of knowing place, a way of attending to hearing, a way of participating and absorbing.” In the article, it is also mentioned that he tries to get listeners to “hear sound making as place making.” Do you believe this is possible to do? What are some encounters that could clearly portray this idea?
- Feld’s practices an exercise to help with “acoustic witnessing”. He tracks a sound and listens for the relationships throughout the soundscape. Go back to a soundscape of a fellow student and use this “sound-tracking” exercise. What did you discover?
- The struggle between written word and audio is a subject that comes up time and again through even the smallest occurrences like a book adapted into a movie. Which is better? Yet, when it comes to the world around us, how does this devaluing of sound affect the organisms living in t? What does the movements of acoustic ecology and/or sonic art provoke from this devaluation?
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3. I think that hearing a particular place can evoke a sensory image in the way that hearing a song will bring us back to a place we heard it or a particular smell will remind us of a distinct memory. Using the focused listening, following one sound at a time, will help us to solidify the place in our memory.