Sounding Places

More-Than-Representational Geographies of Sound and Music

Edited by Karolina Doughty, Cultural Geography Research Group, Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands, Michelle Duffy, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Newcastle, Australia and Theresa Harada, Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space, University of Wollongong, Australia

This edited collection examines the more-than-representational registers of sound. It asks how sound comes to be a meaningful ingredient in the microgeographies of place-making through the workings of affect, emotion, and atmosphere, how sound contributes to shaping a variety of embodied and spatially situated experiences, and how such aspects can be harnessed methodologically. These topics contribute to broader debates on the relations between representation and the non- or more-than-representational that are taking place across the social sciences and humanities in the wake of the cultural turn. More specifically, the book contributes to the fertile theoretical intersections of sound, affect, emotion, and atmosphere.

‘Sounding Places represents a significant theoretical and empirical moment in an emergent sonic geography. Through the lens of a more-than-representational theoretical approach, the volume presents an eclectic and dizzying array of sounds, places and experiences for the reader to savour – from the crashing of ocean waves, the sounds of airports, to breakdancing in Milan subways, to the spatial awareness of the visually impaired, to the geopolitical sounds of nations and the sonic atmospheres of dormitory rooms, this volume presents a truly compelling contribution to our understanding of the role of sound in the geographies of our everyday lives.’
– Michael Bull, University of Sussex, UK

'Sound is embodied and embedded in materials and processes which envelope, embrace and touch humans deeply, providing senses of temporality which animate place through vivid presents and intense memories. Exploring relationships between sound, music, body and environment, this collection makes an important contribution examining sonic places in all their richness.'
– George Revill, The Open University, UK