Personal Waldens of the Stereo Forest

 

This series explores the nostalgic space between
technology and nature, as remembered and experienced by listeners.
The natural is unfortunately often interpreted as the mundane
until it is digitally recorded, reinterpreted and repackaged.
Sonic multiplicity of the natural becomes potentially
minimized and artificial. Yet, the stereo forest emerges
from this convergence of natural and modernization as a
space of negotiation and fluidity between urbanity and
rurality. Located in this undefined space, sound is
expressed within and as culture, and perhaps as echno-culture.

1. Introduction....

David Harvey has specifically addressed the disappearance of clearly defined urban and rural geographies – physical and social. The authors attempt to elaborate on his discussion, after establishing what we shall refer to as “sonic transdifference” - the nostalgic and cultural space between technology and nature, as remembered and experienced by listeners. The snapping of a twig, the hoot of an owl, and rustle of a leaf compete for a hearer’s attention against what we define as the “stereo forest.” With the advent of mobile and digital technologies, such as traditional transistor radios, miniCD players, and iPods, the natural has become inundated by sonic strife. Moreover, the natural is unfortunately often interpreted as the mundane until it is digitally recorded, reinterpreted and repackaged. Sonic multiplicity of the natural becomes potentially minimized and artificial. Yet, the stereo forest emerges from this convergence of natural and modernization as a space of negotiation and fluidity between urbanity and rurality. Located in this undefined space, sound is expressed within and as culture, and perhaps as echno-culture which metaphorically constructs a postmodern version of Walden. We perceive the phenomena as an evolutionary “stereo forest” - the technological reverberation of industrialization that is increasingly inseparable from a listener’s perception of the natural.

Consider the rhythmic and dissonant sounds of industrialization that initiated reinterpretations on personal and urban spaces (Sterne, 2003). More than a century later, individuals are still impacted by their sonic environment, which ultimately has been only minimally investigated for its influence on one’s world view. Mediated voices and sounds, for instance, contribute toward a personal sonic sphere. Sound – as words, music, ambience, physical vibrations, or subconscious impressions as it exists in rural and industrial spaces – is rarely studied for its cultural significance. Sonicity, as a theoretical concept, reclaims sound as a viable cultural influence within the socialization of the individual. One’s identification of preference toward music genre, orality, and urban or rural spaces, as well as one’s emotive and physical aurality, are examples of the breadth of sonicity.

Important to this discussion is the process of sonic negotiation among individuals and societies during momentary lapses of cultural stability, at which point identity space may be reinterpreted contextually and temporally. Noise, or sonic strife, among various constituencies might be theorized as the “space between cultures” (Breinig & Lösch, 2002, p. 26). As a cultural phenomena, sound offers definition and elaboration to self and societal identities. I draw upon the work of transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller, sound historians Emily Thompson (2002) and Jonathan Sterne (2003) and postmodern anthropologist David Harvey (2001) to explore the intersections of sonic spheres of convergent and divergent influence within a larger framework of cultural re/formation.

In the days ahead.....I also share perspectives from an ongoing journaling project that asks participants (and the presenter) to locate and describe listening space (personal Waldens). As technology attempts to magnify sonic identity, it appears relevant to consider the presence or absence of a sound culture against traditional conceptions of culture, such as ethnicity, for example, and more recently definitions of gender. Perspectives of those traveling to and from rural and urban spaces help to illustrate indistinguishable sonic boundaries that began during the early industrialization of America.

Thoreau’s chapter on “Sound” in Walden sets the stage for our discussion; in coping with modernization (and now post-), listeners seek the nostalgic. The stereo forest is a metaphor like that of Thoreau’s train which dissects and unites Walden.


Next in series: "Thoreau and Fuller"