Decolonising Sound Archives? A Roundtable

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge

Sound archives have been described by some scholars as a valuable source of knowledge that "represent the perspectives of the vanquished, the less powerful" (Seeger 2002), that "allow non-literate people to speak for themselves" (Seeger & Chaudhuri 2004), and that might serve to "re-trace" otherwise lost historical knowledge and traditions (Lancefield 1998). Yet how sound archives speak and are heard, for whom and to what effect is never straightforward, especially when their very existence is often bound up in disciplinary practices that cannot be separated from colonial power dynamics.

This roundtable will consider the ethical, epistemological and political challenges and opportunities of working with sound archives. Reflecting on their own engagement with sound archives – as ethnomusicologists involved in efforts to repatriate archives to their source communities, and as sound curators and music producers whose work seeks to make archival material available to broader audiences – panellists will also consider if and why these archives matter, and what it might look (or sound) like to "decolonise" sound archives.

There will also be plenty of time for questions and open conversation with audience member.

Speakers

• Aaron Fox (University of Columbia)
• Noel Lobley (University of Virginia)
• Sylvia Antonia Nannyonga-Tamusuza (University of Makerere)
• Vik Sohonie (Ostinato Records)

Veranstaltung übernehmen als iCal