DOCSLIB.ORG

Re-Membering Trauma in the Flesh Literary and Performative Representations of Race and Gender in the Americas

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Re-Membering Trauma in the Flesh Literary and Performative Representations of Race and Gender in the Americas RE-MEMBERING TRAUMA IN THE FLESH LITERARY AND PERFORMATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF RACE AND GENDER IN THE AMERICAS by Sarah Soanirina Ohmer B.A., University of Houston, 2004 M.A., University of Houston, 2006 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Kenneth P. Dietrich Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2012 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Sarah Soanirina Ohmer It was defended on April 9, 2012 and approved by Dr. John Beverley, Distinguished Professor, Hispanic Languages and Literatures Dr. Hermann Herlinghaus, International Adjunct Faculty, Hispanic Languages and Literatures Dr. Shalini Puri, Associate Professor, Department of English Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Jerome Branche, Associate Professor of Latin American and Cultural Studies ii RE-MEMBERING TRAUMA IN THE FLESH LITERARY AND PERFORMATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF RACE AND GENDER IN THE AMERICAS Sarah Soanirina Ohmer, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2012 This dissertation explores transgenerational traumas of slavery, discrimination, social marginalization pertaining to women and youth of color. The analyses approach novels, testimonio, poetry and performances (1985-2005) with feminist, postcolonial, trauma studies, performance, and psychoanalytic criticism. The manuscript follows three avenues. First, I present a comparative analysis of three novels working through the “postmemory” of slavery. Then I analyze various literary genres that cope with wounded bodies and fragmented identities. This second avenue splits into three streets, exploring repressed sexuality, and naming and internal colonization. Finally, I explore urban youths’ performance. This last avenue stops at various intersections to look at different dances and songs that heal urban youths and help them to affirm their own voices. With a postcolonial approach to trauma studies, Chapter one connects re-membering with storytelling and ghost embodiment. I observe how “neo-abolitionist” novels heal past traumas in Beloved by Toni Morrison, Ponciá Vicencio by Conceição Evaristo, and I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé. Chapter two discusses how texts work through violated maternity, fragmented identity and repressed sexuality. I compare scenes from the novels with the testimonios Reyita: The Life of a Cuban Woman in the Twentieth Century (María de los Reyes Castillo) and Borderlands/La Frontera (Gloria Anzaldúa), and with poems from selected Quilombhoje Collective’s “Cadernos Negros” volumes. This concludes the first section on re- iii membering trauma in writing. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss re-membering trauma through performance. Turning to documentaries on dance and music, I analyze performance that promotes self-esteem and agency for/by marginalized youths from Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro. The last two chapters include José Junior’s Da Favela para o mundo: A historia do grupo cultural AfroReggae, documentaries RIZE (David LaChapelle) and Favela Rising (Matt Mochary and Jeff Zymbalist), and the music album Nenhum Motivo Explica a Guerra (AfroReggae). Any artwork presents the potential to heal trauma and its painful portrayal may be difficult to confront. The texts here present struggles against discrimination and selective amnesia bound to questions of race, socio-economic marginalization, and gender. They suggest resolutions through narrative re-membering—retrieval and re-integration of traumatic memories and afflictions into memory. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... IX 1.0 RE-MEMBERING TRAUMA IN THE FLESH ....................................................... 2 1.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 2 1.1.1 Project Overview ........................................................................................... 2 1.1.2 Trauma and Healing: Shaping Concepts .................................................. 21 1.1.2.1 Witnessing Trauma and Embodied Memory as Healing ................ 21 1.1.2.2 Healing Narratives: An Interdisciplinary Concept .......................... 25 1.1.3 Analyses of Trauma and Healing: An Outline ......................................... 33 2.0 RE-MEMBERING TRAUMA AND “GHOSTWRITING” IN NEO- ABOLITIONIST BELOVED, I TITUBA BLACK WITCH OF SALEM, AND PONCIÁ VICENCIO ................................................................................................................................... 39 2.1 TITUBA, PONCIÁ, AND BELOVED: NEO-ABOLITIONIST NOVELS OF “GHOSTWRITING” OR GHOST STORIES ................................................................. 64 2.2 RETHINKING TRAUMA STUDIES .............................................................. 72 2.2.1 Re-membering Trauma Through Communal Storytelling: Beloved ..... 80 2.2.2 “Should I Suffer Twice?” Tituba’s Haunting .......................................... 89 2.2.3 Ponciá Vicencio’s Sculpting Cure.............................................................. 95 2.3 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 104 v 3.0 RECOVERING OUR SHATTERED BODIES: NAMES, MIRRORS AND WOMBS ……………………………………………………………………………………….109 3.1 “WHAT’S IN A NAME?” (ANTI) NAMING AND POST-SLAVERY SHOCK… .......................................................................................................................... 130 3.1.1 “Eu-Mulher/ I-Woman” and Pre-Naming ............................................. 132 3.1.2 “B-E-L-O-V-E-D” and Naming a Collectivity ....................................... 134 3.1.3 “TI-TU-BA” and Personal Immortality ................................................. 137 3.1.4 “Suggs, Baby Suggs.” Making Acceptance Her Own. ........................... 139 3.1.5 “Denver,” or Hope of Solidarity and Freedom ...................................... 141 3.1.6 Ponciá Vicencio and the Frustration of Post-Slavery Naming ............. 142 3.1.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 148 3.2 AND NOW WE SEE: MIRRORS OF INTERNAL COLONIZATION .... 150 3.2.1 Quilombhoje Writers Working Through Internal Colonization in Brazil…. .................................................................................................................... 155 3.2.2 Gloria Anzaldúa: “Entering Into the Serpent” in Southwest Texas .... 158 3.2.3 Reyita: Becoming Within Her Cuban Home .......................................... 167 3.3 RAPED OF THEIR MOTHERHOOD? ........................................................ 181 3.4 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 202 4.0 HEALING IN URBAN SPACES OF EXCEPTION ............................................ 206 4.1 FROM QUILOMBO TO FAVELA, FROM RANCH TO GHETTO ........ 240 4.2 LOOKING FOR WAYS OUT IN BOCAS SEM SAÍDA .............................. 252 4.3 “GENOCIDE,” “AFFECTIVE MARGINALITIES,” AND A POSSIBILITY OF LIFE. ........................................................................................................................... 260 vi 5.0 YOUTHS HEAL IN PERFORMANCE: AFRO REGGAE AND KRUMP/CLOWNING ............................................................................................................. 286 5.1 REPRESENTING ‘ILL’ COMMUNITIES: RIZE AND FAVELA RISING…. ......................................................................................................................... 289 5.2 WORKING THROUGH TRAUMA WITH PERFORMANCE ................. 299 5.3 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 322 6.0 CONCLUSION. RE-MEMBERING DIASPORA IN THE FLESH ................... 324 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 342 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. “Seja Marginal, Seja Herói.” Hélio Oiticica (1986). .............................................. 274 viii PREFACE My research topic was a personal choice. I wanted to write about healing and research theory that could apply to daily life. For supporting such an uncommon approach, I thank Dr. Herlinghaus, whose mentoring helped me to challenge orthodox methods, and reminded me that there was “more to life than just rainbows,” that healing came after trauma. I had a personal topic, but my corpus was as scattered as my background. Latin Americanists tend to focus on a corpus of literature from their corresponding nation. Studying a field foreign to my family, my ancestors, and myself, race was a strong connecting point that I could, but—and this was hard to realize for me—I refused to discuss. Yet as I read and re-read novels and theory by women of color throughout the Americas, I found their texts spoke more to me than others. I related to their struggle, their spirituality, their connection with Mother Earth, and their optimism. For arriving to this realization, I thank Dr. Jerome Branche, whose mentoring and academic challenges guided me to accept the urgency of Afro-Latin American studies. His careful revisions grounded my argument and helped me earn confidence as a scholar in comparative and transnational race studies. I connect deeply with many texts, yet rarely do I get to meet the inspiring voices I read. For teaching me to read
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry
    0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry Howard Rambsy II The University of Michigan Press • Ann Arbor First paperback edition 2013 Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2011 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper 2016 2015 2014 2013 5432 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rambsy, Howard. The black arts enterprise and the production of African American poetry / Howard Rambsy, II. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-472-11733-8 (cloth : acid-free paper) 1. American poetry—African American authors—History and criticism. 2. Poetry—Publishing—United States—History—20th century. 3. African Americans—Intellectual life—20th century. 4. African Americans in literature. I. Title. PS310.N4R35 2011 811'.509896073—dc22 2010043190 ISBN 978-0-472-03568-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-472-12005-5 (e-book) Cover illustrations: photos of writers (1) Haki Madhubuti and (2) Askia M. Touré, Mari Evans, and Kalamu ya Salaam by Eugene B. Redmond; other images from Shutterstock.com: jazz player by Ian Tragen; African mask by Michael Wesemann; fist by Brad Collett.
    [Show full text]
  • About Endgame
    IN ASSOCIATION WITH BLINDER FILMS presents in coproduction with UMEDIA in association with FÍS ÉIREANN / SCREEN IRELAND, INEVITABLE PICTURES and EPIC PICTURES GROUP THE HAUNTINGS BEGIN IN THEATERS MARCH, 2020 Written and Directed by MIKE AHERN & ENDA LOUGHMAN Starring Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, Risteárd Cooper, Jamie Beamish, Terri Chandler With Will Forte And Claudia O’Doherty 93 min. – Ireland / Belgium – MPAA Rating: R WEBSITE: www.CrankedUpFilms.com/ExtraOrdinary / http://rosesdrivingschool.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook - Twitter - Instagram HASHTAG: #ExtraOrdinary #ChristianWinterComeback #CosmicWoman #EverydayHauntings STILLS/NOTES: Link TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1TvL5ZL6Sc For additional information please contact: New York: Leigh Wolfson: [email protected]: 212.373.6149 Nina Baron: [email protected] – 212.272.6150 Los Angeles: Margaret Gordon: [email protected] – 310.854.4726 Emily Maroon – [email protected] – 310.854.3289 Field: Sara Blue - [email protected] - 303-955-8854 1 LOGLINE Rose, a mostly sweet & mostly lonely Irish small-town driving instructor, must use her supernatural talents to save the daughter of Martin (also mostly sweet & lonely) from a washed-up rock star who is using her in a Satanic pact to reignite his fame. SHORT SYNOPSIS Rose, a sweet, lonely driving instructor in rural Ireland, is gifted with supernatural abilities. Rose has a love/hate relationship with her ‘talents’ & tries to ignore the constant spirit related requests from locals - to exorcise possessed rubbish bins or haunted gravel. But! Christian Winter, a washed up, one-hit-wonder rock star, has made a pact with the devil for a return to greatness! He puts a spell on a local teenager- making her levitate.
    [Show full text]
  • Caribbean Voices Broadcasts
    APPENDIX © The Author(s) 2016 171 G.A. Griffi th, The BBC and the Development of Anglophone Caribbean Literature, 1943–1958, New Caribbean Studies, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32118-9 TIMELINE OF THE BBC CARIBBEAN VOICES BROADCASTS March 11th 1943 to September 7th 1958 © The Author(s) 2016 173 G.A. Griffi th, The BBC and the Development of Anglophone Caribbean Literature, 1943–1958, New Caribbean Studies, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32118-9 TIMELINE OF THE BBC CARIBBEAN VOICES EDITORS Una Marson April 1940 to December 1945 Mary Treadgold December 1945 to July 1946 Henry Swanzy July 1946 to November 1954 Vidia Naipaul December 1954 to September 1956 Edgar Mittelholzer October 1956 to September 1958 © The Author(s) 2016 175 G.A. Griffi th, The BBC and the Development of Anglophone Caribbean Literature, 1943–1958, New Caribbean Studies, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32118-9 TIMELINE OF THE WEST INDIES FEDERATION AND THE TERRITORIES INCLUDED January 3 1958 to 31 May 31 1962 Antigua & Barbuda Barbados Dominica Grenada Jamaica Montserrat St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago © The Author(s) 2016 177 G.A. Griffi th, The BBC and the Development of Anglophone Caribbean Literature, 1943–1958, New Caribbean Studies, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32118-9 CARIBBEAN VOICES : INDEX OF AUTHORS AND SEQUENCE OF BROADCASTS Author Title Broadcast sequence Aarons, A.L.C. The Cow That Laughed 1369 The Dancer 43 Hurricane 14 Madam 67 Mrs. Arroway’s Joe 1 Policeman Tying His Laces 156 Rain 364 Santander Avenue 245 Ablack, Kenneth The Last Two Months 1029 Adams, Clem The Seeker 320 Adams, Robert Harold Arundel Moody 111 Albert, Nelly My World 496 Alleyne, Albert The Last Mule 1089 The Rock Blaster 1275 The Sign of God 1025 Alleyne, Cynthia Travelogue 1329 Allfrey, Phyllis Shand Andersen’s Mermaid 1134 Anderson, Vernon F.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Poetry Edited by Jahan Ramazani Frontmatter More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-09071-2 — The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Poetry Edited by Jahan Ramazani Frontmatter More Information the cambridge companion to postcolonial poetry The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Poetry is the first collection of essays to explore postcolonial poetry through regional, historical, political, formal, textual, gender, and comparative approaches. The essays encompass a broad range of English-speakers from the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands; the former settler colonies, such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, especially non-Europeans; Ireland, Britain’s oldest colony; and post- colonial Britain itself, particularly black and Asian immigrants and their descen- dants. The comparative essays analyze poetry from across the postcolonial anglophone world in relation to postcolonialism and modernism, fixed and free forms, experimentation, oral performance and creole languages, protest poetry, the poetic mapping of urban and rural spaces, poetic embodiments of sexuality and gender, poetry and publishing history, and poetry’s response to, and reimagining of, globalization. Strengthening the place of poetry in postco- lonial studies, this Companion also contributes to the globalization of poetry studies. jahan ramazani is University Professor and Edgar F. Shannon Professor of English at the University of Virginia. He is the author of five books: Poetry and its Others: News, Prayer, Song, and the Dialogue of Genres (2013); A Transnational Poetics (2009), winner of the 2011 Harry Levin Prize of the American Comparative Literature Association, awarded for the best book in comparative literary history published in the years 2008 to 2010; The Hybrid Muse: Postcolonial Poetry in English (2001); Poetry of Mourning: The Modern Elegy from Hardy to Heaney (1994), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Yeats and the Poetry of Death: Elegy, Self-Elegy, and the Sublime (1990).
    [Show full text]
  • Vol 25 / No. 2 / November 2017 Volume 24 Number 2 November 2017
    1 Vol 25 / No. 2 / November 2017 Volume 24 Number 2 November 2017 Published by the discipline of Literatures in English, University of the West Indies CREDITS Original image: Self-portrait with projection, October 2017, img_9723 by Rodell Warner Anu Lakhan (copy editor) Nadia Huggins (graphic designer) JWIL is published with the financial support of the Departments of Literatures in English of The University of the West Indies Enquiries should be sent to THE EDITORS Journal of West Indian Literature Department of Literatures in English, UWI Mona Kingston 7, JAMAICA, W.I. Tel. (876) 927-2217; Fax (876) 970-4232 e-mail: [email protected] OR Ms. Angela Trotman Department of Language, Linguistics and Literature Faculty of Humanities, UWI Cave Hill Campus P.O. Box 64, Bridgetown, BARBADOS, W.I. e-mail: [email protected] SUBSCRIPTION RATE US$20 per annum (two issues) or US$10 per issue Copyright © 2017 Journal of West Indian Literature ISSN (online): 2414-3030 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Evelyn O’Callaghan (Editor in Chief) Michael A. Bucknor (Senior Editor) Glyne Griffith Rachel L. Mordecai Lisa Outar Ian Strachan BOOK REVIEW EDITOR Antonia MacDonald EDITORIAL BOARD Edward Baugh Victor Chang Alison Donnell Mark McWatt Maureen Warner-Lewis EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Laurence A. Breiner Rhonda Cobham-Sander Daniel Coleman Anne Collett Raphael Dalleo Denise deCaires Narain Curdella Forbes Aaron Kamugisha Geraldine Skeete Faith Smith Emily Taylor THE JOURNAL OF WEST INDIAN LITERATURE has been published twice-yearly by the Departments of Literatures in English of the University of the West Indies since October 1986. Edited by full time academics and with minimal funding or institutional support, the Journal originated at the same time as the first annual conference on West Indian Literature, the brainchild of Edward Baugh, Mervyn Morris and Mark McWatt.
    [Show full text]
  • Biography Etheridge Knight Was a Man of Mystery. According To
    Biography Etheridge Knight was a man of mystery. According to Sanford Pinsker, “Knight is the kind of poet who gives poetry a good name.”1 Fran Quinn, a close friend of Knight’s said that Knight is “the kind of person that a lot of rumors are going to gather around.”2 One thing that is certain is the he managed to produce a body of work that is to this day considered some of the finest of American poetry. Etheridge Knight was born on April 19, 1931, in Corinth, Mississippi. He grew up in Paducah, Kentucky. Knight only attended school until he had finished the eight grade. It was during this period that his problems with drug and alcohol use began, although this was also when he was introduced to the art of toasting. Toasts are traditional oral forms of narratives, often focusing on “drugs, sex, illegal activities, and violence.” After he dropped out, he ended up joining the army in 1947. Knight saw active duty in Korea and served until he was discharged in 1951 after suffering a shrapnel wound.3 In 1960 he was arrested for what was officially called armed robbery.4 Knight had distracted a clerk at a convenience store and taken $12 out of the register. When the police picked him up a few blocks away, he was found to have a knife in his pocket. The whole incident had been caught on the store’s security camera, and despite never having drawn the weapon, Knight was convicted of armed robbery and made into an example by the judge; who sentenced him to one year in prison for each dollar taken.
    [Show full text]
  • Brave New World Service a Unique Opportunity for the Bbc to Bring the World to the UK
    BRAVE NEW WORLD SERVIce A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE BBC TO BRING THE WORLD TO THE UK JOHN MCCaRTHY WITH CHARLOTTE JENNER CONTENTS Introduction 2 Value 4 Integration: A Brave New World Service? 8 Conclusion 16 Recommendations 16 INTERVIEWEES Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications, Ishbel Matheson, Director of Media, Save the Children and University of Westminster former East Africa Correspondent, BBC World Service John Baron MP, Member of Foreign Affairs Select Committee Rod McKenzie, Editor, BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat and Charlie Beckett, Director, POLIS BBC 1Xtra News Tom Burke, Director of Global Youth Work, Y Care International Richard Ottaway MP, Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee Alistair Burnett, Editor, BBC World Tonight Rita Payne, Chair, Commonwealth Journalists Mary Dejevsky, Columnist and leader writer, The Independent Association and former Asia Editor, BBC World and former newsroom subeditor, BBC World Service Marcia Poole, Director of Communications, International Jim Egan, Head of Strategy and Distribution, BBC Global News Labour Organisation (ILO) and former Head of the Phil Harding, Journalist and media consultant and former World Service training department Director of English Networks and News, BBC World Service Stewart Purvis, Professor of Journalism and former Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 News Chief Executive, ITN Isabel Hilton, Editor of China Dialogue, journalist and broadcaster Tony Quinn, Head of Planning, JWT Mary Hockaday, Head of BBC Newsroom Nick Roseveare, Chief Executive, BOND Peter
    [Show full text]
  • The Black Plumb Line: Re-Evaluating Race and Africanist Images in Non-Black Authored American Texts
    The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Summer 8-2011 The Black Plumb Line: Re-evaluating Race and Africanist Images in Non-Black Authored American Texts LaShondra Vanessa Robinson University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Literature in English, North America Commons, and the Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons Recommended Citation Robinson, LaShondra Vanessa, "The Black Plumb Line: Re-evaluating Race and Africanist Images in Non- Black Authored American Texts" (2011). Dissertations. 663. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/663 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi THE BLACK PLUMB LINE: RE-EVALUATING RACE AND AFRICANIST IMAGES IN NON-BLACK AUTHORED AMERICAN TEXTS by LaShondra Vanessa Robinson Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2011 ABSTRACT THE BLACK PLUMB LINE: RE-EVALUATING RACE AND AFRICANIST IMAGES IN NON-BLACK AUTHORED AMERICAN TEXTS by LaShondra Vanessa Robinson August 2011 This study evaluates Africanisms (representations of racialized or ethnicized blackness) within three contemporary non-black authors’ texts: Jewish American Saul Bellow’s novel Henderson the Rain King, white southerner Melinda Haynes’ novel Mother of Pearl, and Nyurican poet Victor Hernández Cruz’s works “Mesa Blanca” and “White Table.” Though not entirely unproblematic, each selection somehow redefines black identity and agency to challenge denigrated representations of Africanist people and culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Mapping the Aesthetical-Political Sonic, Master Thesis, © March 2017 Supervisor: Sommerer, Christa, Univ.-Prof
    Universität für Künstlerische und Industrielle Gestaltung Linz Institut für Medien Interface Culture SOUNDSREVOLTING:MAPPINGTHE AESTHETICAL-POLITICALSONIC oliver lehner Master Thesis MA supervisor: Sommerer, Christa, Univ.-Prof. Dr. date of approbation: March 2017 signature (supervisor): Linz, 2017 Oliver Lehner: Sounds Revolting: Mapping the Aesthetical-Political Sonic, Master Thesis, © March 2017 supervisor: Sommerer, Christa, Univ.-Prof. Dr. location: Linz ABSTRACT I demand change. As a creator of sound art, I wanted to know what it can do. I tried to find out about the potential field in the overlap between a political aesthetic and a political sonic, between an artis- tic activism and sonic war machines. My point of entry was Steve Goodman’s Sonic Warfare. From there, trajectories unfolded through sonic architectures into an activist philosophy in interactive art. Sonic weapon technology and contemporary sound art practices define a frame for my works. In the end, I could only hint at sonic agents for change. iii CONTENTS i thesis 1 1 introduction 3 1.1 Why sound matters (to me) . 3 1.2 Listening for “New Weapons” . 4 1.3 Sounds of War . 5 1.4 Aesthetics and Politics . 6 2 acoustic weapons 11 2.1 On “Non-lethal” Weapons (NLW) . 11 2.2 A brief history of weaponized sound . 14 2.3 Sonic Battleground Europe . 19 2.4 Civil Sonic Weapons and Counter Measures . 20 3 the art of (sonic) war 23 3.1 Advanced Hyperstition: Goodman’s work after Sonic Warfare . 23 3.2 Artistic Sonic War Machines . 26 3.3 Ultrasound Art and Micropolitics of Frequency . 31 4 the search for sound artivism 37 4.1 Art and Activism .
    [Show full text]
  • 071209 Bush Writers Portfolio FINAL SW
    Bush Writers 1940 - 2012 A Witness Seminar Bush House 9th December 2009 Bush Writers Witness Seminar 9th December 2009 Contents Aims Page 3 Timetable Page 4 Seminar questions Page 5 ‘Bush Writers’ project outline Page 6 ‘Bush Writers’ website and publication plans Page 7 Bush Writers and extracts for 9/12/09 seminar Page 8 Bush Writers and extracts from seminar two Page 31 Bush Writers and extracts from seminar three Page 46 Cover Image: Voice - the monthly radio magazine programme which broadcasts modern poetry to English-speaking India in the Eastern Service of the BBC. l-r, sitting Venu Chitale, a member of the BBC Indian Section, M.J.Tambimuttu, a Tamil from Ceylon, editor of Poetry (London) T.S. Eliot ; Una Marson, BBC West Indian Programme Organiser, Mulk Raj Anand, Indian novelist, Christopher Pemberton, a member of the BBC staff, Narayana Menon, Indian writer. l-r, standing George Orwell, author and producer of the programme, Nancy Parratt, secretary to George Orwell, William Empson, poet and critic 2 Bush Writers Seminar 9th December 2009 Dear Friends and Colleagues, The purpose of this three-part seminar series is to bring together Bush Writers (former and current, published and aspiring) in order to share their experiences of and memories as “secret agents” of literature at Bush House. This seminar series is part of a larger research project and a unique partnership between The Open University and the BBC World Service.1 It examines diasporic cultures at Bush House from 1940 to 2012 when the Bush House era will end as staff move out and take up new working premises (see project outline pg.
    [Show full text]
  • Flying High Radio Show Playlists
    Flying High Radio Show Playlist 2020 30 December 2020 i_o - Castles In The Sky (Extended Mix) Craig Connelly & Alex Holmes - Anything Like You (Daxson Extended Remix) MaRLo & HALIENE - Say Hello (Darren Porter Radio Edit) David Forbes & Susie Ledge - Silent Waves BT,Matt Fax, Nation Of One - Walk Into The Water Iain M & Deirdre McLaughlin - Eternally (Sneijder Extended Remix) Seawayz & Sharon Valerona - By My Side( Extended Mix) Andrew Rayel & Olivia Sebastianelli - Everything Everything (Cosmic Gate Remix) Illitheas & Pedro del Mar With Tiff Lacey - Lightning (Extended Mix) Protoculture & Diana Miro - Seconds Robbie Seed,Digital Vision,Caitlin Potter - Come Back Home (Radio Mix) DT8 & Project & Lustral - On My Own (Last Soldier Remix) Teddy Beats Ft. Mon RovÎa - Waste Some Time Marcus Santoro & Lauren L'aimant - Give Into You LTN & Christina Novelli - I'd Go Back (R.I.B & Seven24 & Eugene Cortez Remix) ©2009-2020 George Jopling https://djgj.co.uk Flying High Radio Show Playlist 2020 23 December 2020 LTN & Christina Novelli - I'd Go Back (Rinaly Extended Remix) Rezwan Khan & Hidden Tigress - Racing To Somewhere (Extended Mix) Susana - Dark Side of The Moon (Ferry Tayle Extended Mix) Tycoos & Jan Johnston - The Landslide (Extended Mix) Robert Nickson With Thea Riley - Feed My Soul (Extended Club Mix) Will Atkinson With Harry Roke - Burning Out Will Atkinson With Cari Golden - Cigarettes & Kerosene Will Atkinson With Perplexer - Acid Folk (Will Atkinson Last King of Scotland Remix) Billy Gillies - Closed Eyes (Extended Mix) Alessandra Roncone - What Makes You Feel Alive (Extended Mix) Nord Horizon - Take My Hand (Extended Mix) Dim3nsion - Outstanding Armin van Buuren Ft. Duncan Laurence - Feel Something Jes & Oliver Smith - Don't Let It End (Accoustic) 16 December 2020 James Kitcher, Adam Taylor & Susie Ledge - Come In From The Cold (Extended Mix) Ana Criado - In A Thousand Skies (Dan Stone Extended Mix) BiXX - Trance At The Opera (Extended Mix) Miyuki Ft.
    [Show full text]
  • Amerikan Movies Draft1.7
    AMERIKAN MOVIES 1 AMERICAN MOVIES Table of contents The Parts that Make up the Whole, Some thoughts on the work of The Speculative Archive/Julia Meltzer and David Thorne by Pablo de Ocampo - 3 Frequencies: an interview with Jason Boughton - 6 Taking to the Periphery - 17 by Andrea Picard Light Waves and their Uses - 21 by David Dinnell David Gatten talk - 23 Hand Cranked: a Conversation with Filmmaker Lee Krist by Alex Mackenzie - 30 Milk and Juice: An unfinished text to the artist I wish I’d met before starting psychoanalysis by Deirdre Logue - 38 Experience Torn to Shreds/Experiments From the Granary, Vincent Grenier, A Retrospective by Mike Cartmell - 40 What is Felt Cannot be Forgotten: an interview with Deborah Stratman interview - 46 George Kuchar’s Videos: Excrements of time by Steve Reinke- 58 Jennifer Reeves at Cinemateque Ontatio, fall 2006 – 64 An Interview with Robert Todd – 72 Long Live Experimental: and Interview with Julie Murray - 94 An Interview with Martha Colburn – 109 David Dinnell’s Midden – 118 Dani Leventhal by Steve Reinke - 120 Editor: Mike Hoolboom Notes on 4 Movies by Dani Leventhal - 121 Design by Mike Evans 2 The parts that make up the whole Some thoughts on the work of The Speculative Archive/Julia Meltzer and David Thorne by Pablo de Ocampo Since 1999 Julia Meltzer and David Thorne “the truth” is a means by which to emphasize have been collaborating under the name The the often loose and uncertain nature of the facts Speculative Archive. Though their output they are working with. Meltzer and Thorne’s includes installations, texts, and photographs, process is heavily rooted in an intensive the bulk of their work has been in the production investigation of documents—government texts, of single channel video documentaries.
    [Show full text]