From Transport to Movement and Noise to Sound: Researching Western Tokyo through Conflicting Auditory Sensations

Beschreibung

Modern cities like Tokyo heavily depend on transportation systems like railroads, streets, waterways and footpaths to keep people and goods moving from one place to another. Often, urban sounds are just registered as byproduct of this movement and labeled as noise. In contrast, this study is approaching urban spaces, and the physical as well as social movements within them, from the viewpoint of auditory sensations.

By approaching the urban space of two neighborhoods in Setagaya, Tokyo, through auditory sensations, I aim at showing how sound is strongly influencing our individual perception of space. At the same time, it connects the individual to the surrounding, the city, and the society as a whole. Qualitative methods like sound maps, participant hearing (sensory anthropology), audio recordings and interviews provide the possibility to document everyday sounds and highlight the variety as well as the complexity of the urban sound landscape.
The empirical part is divided into two overlapping case studies: The first is concerned with peripheral or ambient sounds that are connected to movement, especially to the train lines that give distinction to the Setagaya neighborhoods. The clattering of commuter trains along the tracks have become one of the most commonly perceived everyday sonic impressions in urban Japan. Like most transport sounds they are not only part of everyday life but also the reason or trigger of conflicts. The second part focuses on sound, caused and utilized by social movements (sometimes protesting for or against transportation) in these neighborhoods. They often use sound, such as chants, slogans, songs and concerts, as vehicle to bring across their message (of resistance).

Tokyo is only an instance in this case study that narrates the complicated triangular relationship between humans, movement (transportation networks) and the city trough those entangled trajectories of ambient and intended sounds.

Zeitraum	14 Sep. 2018
Ereignistitel	Sound Culture Studies and Modernity in Asia Conference
Veranstaltungstyp	Konferenz
Ort	Tokyo, Fuchu, JapanAuf Karte anzeigen
Bekanntheitsgrad	International