From December 2020 to May 2021, CAS held a yearlong lecture series around the theme of 鈥淪ound and Noise in Asia.鈥� Following a two-day symposium held in November, the series highlighted sound/noise practices and aesthetics from East Asian broadcast media such as radio and television; the representation of sound and noise in literature; film sound aesthetics; environmental noise practices; the circulation of recording media such as cassettes; and postcolonial sonic space making. The talks were spread across the regions represented at CAS, with topics ranging from Chinese film to Cambodian rock, Indian literature, and Middle Eastern cultures in diaspora.
Held virtually, the lecture series brought attention to the field of sound studies not only at 精品SM在线影片, but also in the broader Asian studies community. Each speaker brought together different groups of scholars and students for academic discussion. As a part of the University mission for diversity, equity, and inclusion, the series not only aimed for geographic and cultural diversity, but also featured women of color.
The series kicked off with Madhumita Lahiri鈥檚 talk in December titled 鈥淟istening for India: Reading and the Multilingual Nation.鈥� Lahiri discussed how cues about language use in a multilingual society and the use of sound descriptions as character motif formed the aesthetic of a nationalist novel at a time when India was headed for independence. Zhang Ling鈥檚 talk in February, 鈥淎n Operatic Atmosphere: Sound and聽Transmediality in Fei Mu鈥檚聽Spring in a Small Town聽(1948),鈥� discussed the very distinctive voiceover in a classic Chinese film, and offered great insight into the operatic use of gender and voice. Jennifer Hsieh鈥檚 March talk, 鈥淔rom Festival to Decibel:聽Contestations of Renao and Zaoyin in Taiwan鈥檚 Noise Control System,鈥� brought in the fields of anthropology and environmental studies, with a study of buzzing temple noise as a part of the urban soundscape. David Novak brought audiences from Cambodia to California and back with 鈥淕lobal Counterhistories of Cambodian Cassette Culture鈥嬧�� in April. And finally, Roshanak Kheshti gave a beautiful talk on the interaction of music and embodiment of culture through dance titled 鈥淧ocoDisco: On the Politics of Postcolonial Sonic Space Making鈥� in May, closing out the series. Christine Bacareza Balance, who was to have given the talk 鈥淥n Popular Music, Dictatorship, and a Brown Commons,鈥� unfortunately had to cancel due to health reasons, but had participated as an audience member at several other talks in the series.
All in all, CAS was able to contribute significantly to the still emerging field of sound studies by convening scholars who approached the field from different positions. Asian studies, in particular, is still not strongly represented in the field, and series has offered a view into directions of future growth.聽 聽
Evelyn Shih is聽Assistant Professor of Chinese in the Asian Languages and Civilizations Department at 精品SM在线影片.聽She writes about various media, from comic strips and mass periodicals to film and literature, as a part of a comic sensorium and an emerging mode of mass communication in the mid-20th century. She is currently at work on a book manuscript of the same name, as well as a project on the topolect cinema of Taiwan, the Taiyupian; and another project on colonial travelers of Taiwan and Korea, who capture their experience within and without of Japanese empire on the Chinese continent.