Preview of Special Issue Webtexts

Border Soundscapes Project

In this Praxis webtext, Jose Manuel Flores Fuentes and Lucia Dura explore how soundscapes, constituted by "different knowledge-making perspectives such as music, architecture, design, computer science, sociology, biology, health, psychology, philosophy, rhetoric" converge in an "authentic concern for sound," and "the sound phenomenon," specifically in the Borderlands of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez. Through the inclusion of sounds from the border, the authors make the case that the development of a cultural repository for borderland sounds contributes to the (re)mapping of sound studies through a rhetorical perspective that emphasizes the dynamic nature of borderlands.

Composing the Sonic Sacred: Podcasting as Faith-Based Activism

In the Disputatio section, Jon Stone draws our attention to activism happening within conservative religious traditions that is often overlooked but crucial for social change. This webtext suggests a listening experience to forms of activism—such as the role of doubt, questions, and lived experiences of difference—can help push "the progressive needle forward within conservative Christian communities." In arguing for the role of sound and listening, Stone illustrates ways of engaging with differences that help forward incremental, but not insignificant, change practices.

Come Together, Right Now: How the Compositional Affordances of Music Shed Light on Community, Identity, and Pedagogy

In this Topoi webtext, Sarah Snyder, Holly Hassel, Mark Blaauw-Hara, Jacob Babb, and Harley Ferris give examples of how different genres of music can be used to teach writing and foster community and reflect on individual identity. They explain, "Our goal in describing these resonances ... is ultimately to offer some new ways to listen to writing, new ways to read music that invite readers and listeners to reflect on the relationships between textual, linguistic, and musical composing, as well as the companionability of language and sound."

Filling in the Emotional Gaps: Primary Voices of Japanese American Incarceration

In this Topoi webtext, S.D.C. Parker works from oral histories of Japanese Americans during internment in the Second World War and argues for vocal and aural rhetorics as important ways of remembering and understanding these incarceration experiences. By visually analyzing the sound waves of multiple speakers, Parker makes a case for the ways in which one’s voice can help listeners and viewers "fill in the emotional gaps" between one’s own position and time period and historical atrocities.

A Listening Roundtable for Sleepwalking 2: A Mixtap/e/ssay

In this Inventio webtext, A.D. Carson shares a listening roundtable about his mixtape Sleepwalking 2. The roundtable was moderated by Njelle Hamilton, associate professor in the Department of English and Carter G. Woodson Institute for African and African-American Studies at the University of Virginia. The featured participants were Lanice Avery, assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality and psychology at the University of Virginia; Marcus "Truth" Fitzgerald, Chicago-based producer and rapper; Jack Hamilton, associate professor of media studies and American studies at the University of Virginia; Deborah McDowell, director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies and Alice Griffin Professor of English at the University of Virginia; and, Guthrie Ramsey, the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. The webtext calls our attention to the roundtable listening session as a method for opening up conversations through collective listening, discussion, and reflection.

Sounding Out in a PWI: Circulating Asian American Sound for Institutional Change

In the PraxisWiki text, "Sounding Out in a PWI" by Jennifer Sano-Franchini, Margaret Fernandes, Jonathan Adams, and Michelle Kim, listeners and readers are introduced to the ways sonic intervention challenges white noise in an institutional context. The authors ultimately argue that sound intervention through extracurricular events is more than just a moment, but an event that provokes action within and beyond the walls of the institution, and into our communities.

"Testimonios, Microphones and Sonic Soliloquies: Speaking Through and Claiming Our Auditory Narratives"

In the first Sound Studies, Rhetoric, and Writing conference keynote address, Eric Rodriguez, Cecilia Valenzuela, Magnolia Landa-Posas, and Todd Craig present on and perform their sonic work.

"Breaking and Making: Hip-hop Aesthetics across Place, Sound, and the Moving Image"

In the second Sound Studies, Rhetoric, and Writing conference keynote address, Emery Petchauer, Stephany Bravo, Jared. D. Milburn, and Vanessa J. Aguilar present on and perform their sonic work.

Abolition as Praxis: An Interview With Sylvia Ryerson and Luis Luna

Rosa Tobin interviews Sylvia Ryerson and Luis Luna, the co-creators and organizers behind Melting the ICE/Derritiendo el Hielo, a bilingual podcast and radio show centered around amplifying and circulating testimonio from people directly impacted by ICE detention. In this interview, Sylvia and Luis join in conversation to discuss their podcast, and how they approach abolition as a praxis in their work.

A Conversation on Sound, Rhetoric, and Community with Karrieann Soto Vega and Stephen Hammer

In this interview, Karrieann Soto Vega and Stephen Hammer discuss their work in sound and where they hope to go next. In conversation with each other, they discuss the importance of community engagement in their work as scholars and sound practitioners.

Album Review: i used to love to dream

In this review, Victor Del Hierro and his students at the University of Florida discuss, via podcast, the influences and impact of A.D. Carson's most recent album.

Book Review: Sounding Composition: Multimodal Pedagogies for Embodied Listening

In this review, Shannon Kelly tests out Steph Ceraso’s call for composing in sound, and the important role that sound plays in expanding conversations about classroom accessibility. Kelly tries out one of Ceraso’s assignments titled "My Listening Body" to explore listening multimodally in practice and to experience how sound constructs and affects our surroundings.