CFP: Sound, Ability, and Emergence, Due 1/15/17

Sound, Ability, and Emergence, Co-Edited by Airek Beauchamp

The rumble of bass hitting the viscera at concerts, music and flooring optimized for the best rumble at deaf proms. Though we often think of sound in terms of the strictly auditory, new theories and scientific discoveries tell us that sound as vibration is a force that affects us beyond just our ears. As our understanding of the force of sound, and the importance of sound studies, grows, our language must adapt to include the widening berth. Affect, multisensory perception, and the body as a holistic organ of processing vibration rewrite the dominance of the language of auditory perception.

Christine Sun Kim’s work merges the auditory and the tactile while Oxford University’s Crossmodal Lab investigates intersensory connections— once thought to be isolated, the senses are now understood as interrelated affective data. So where and how has the language surrounding sound studies become necessarily ableist or limited to theories rooted in the ears? How do advances in the study of perception, affect, and sensation inform the baseline we draw from construct sound studies as a discipline? We would love for you to tell us. We welcome research-based posts and posts examining vibrational and ultra-sensory perception through a first-person narrative style; many of our posts mix both.  We also encourage artistic posts that use the blog format to communicate across previously hard-drawn sensory lines.

Please pitch your idea to us in 250 (or less) of your best words by January 15th, 2017. You will be informed of your status no later than February 1.  Full first drafts will be due April 1, 2017.  You will need to be available for edits in April.

Send inquiries and submissions to Airek Beauchamp at abeauchamp@astate.edu.  Don’t forget to read our submission guidelines AND search our site for writing on your proposed subject before sending us your stuff. Our handy search dialogue box is just to your right ———————-> (and down a little).

Thanks and please spread the word!

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