Conference Agenda

What Jennifer Post has called eco-ethnomusicological research has moved the study of people making music to the more inclusive study of living beings relating through sound. Similarly, the ethical dimension of eco-ethnomusicology has shifted from the anthropocentric category of social justice to the more ecocentric ecojustice, wherein justice is no longer only for and between humans but is instead inclusive of both humans and more-than-humans. Eco-ethnomusicology is informed by ethnographic fieldwork; Indigenous, traditional, and Western ecological knowledges; bioacoustics; soundscape ecology; and environmental activism. These influential impacts and multifaceted influences have come about relatively recently. How else might eco-ethnomusicology shift our thinking, and what other confluences might it stir up? Rather than predict the future, this roundtable offers reflections from five scholars who have influenced and been impacted by eco-ethnomusicology: Panelist#1 addresses eco-ethnomusicology and its environmentally focused sonic research in multispecies and more-than-human communities. Panelist#2 relates Indigenous songs, the land, and long held spiritual and cultural ecosystems. Panelist#3 engages music’s potential for ecological analogizing and increasing awareness of relationships that extend beyond sentient life forms. Panelist#4 emphasizes the importance of skillful listening in cinematic sound design and the challenges of representing more-than-human voices. Panelist#5 reflects on the sound commons and ecojustice, particularly sonic communication in the world of plants and animals. After these remarks and comments from a discussant in the first hour, the audience will have the second hour to discuss the future of the subjects for eco-ethnomusicological work: music, sound, and justice in multispecies environments.