Document Type
Article
Abstract
Sonic diversity in the midst of wilderness, as original and untamed, can confound and discomfort the novice listener who becomes overwhelmed by its plethora of mysterious languages. Transcendentalist Margaret Fuller, author of Summer on the Lakes (1844), expressed sensory overload when she was confronted with the sights and sounds of Niagara Falls. Sound permeates our life, from conception, birth, and varied sonic spheres of influence that penetrate our physical space. Sound acknowledges its relevance as a cultural influence within the socialization of the individual. For instance, high-powered car stereos and subwoofers swimming in bass overtones have become associated with masculinity. This paper investigates the idea of sound as culture, and how gender, ethnicity, space and other factors create a multiplicity of sonic spheres of influence that impact our perception of events. An on-going listening study that explores the intersection of gender, sound, and cultural (as well as physical) space will be discussed. Personal stories emerge as sound weaves a narrative (as soundscape) that is composed of the memories and daily impressions of women. It is a return to Merchant's Eden, Fuller's Summer on the Lakes, and Thoreau's Walden.
Repository Citation
Johnson, Phylis. "Women of the New Walden: Gender in Sound Culture, Now and Then." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 7, no. 2, 2007, pp. 1–19. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol7/iss2/5
Included in
American Literature Commons, Audio Arts and Acoustics Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons