Sonic Ethnography

Sonic ethnography reveals how sound plays a central role in the performance of local identities in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. By exploring the soundscape of tree rituals, carnivals, pilgrimages, informal musical performances, and sound archives, the book focuses on the relational and experiential aspects of sound that momentarily bring together acoustic communities. It provides an innovative take on an area that has been studied by Italian and foreign scholars starting from the 1950s, in which these classic studies have become one of the forces at play in the local politics of heritage. Through a combination of text, colour photographs and sound recordings, Sonic ethnography makes a compelling argument for taking sound seriously as a crucial component of social life and as an ethnographic form of representation. With an afterword and a soundscape composition by Steven Feld.
Through a combination of text, colour photographs and sound recordings, Sonic ethnography explores the role of sound in the performance of local identities in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. The book makes a compelling argument for taking sound seriously as a crucial component of social life and as an ethnographic form of representation.
Andrew Irving is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Director of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester