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Soundscapes of Trauma: Music, Sound and the Ethics of Witnessing

Descrizione del progetto

Ascoltare l’esperienza sonora in situazioni di isolamento e sfollamento

Il progetto MUTE, finanziato dal Consiglio europeo della ricerca, analizza la violenza sonora, le testimonianze acustiche e l’etica dell’ascolto, oltre ad approfondire l’armamento della musica e dei suoni in situazioni di isolamento e sfollamento alla luce degli sviluppi transnazionali nel campo di tecnologie di terrore dalla guerra fredda a oggi. Il progetto chiarisce inoltre i modi con cui la musica e i suoni possono diventare uno strumento per rivendicare le proprie azioni e studia le sfide etiche di tale ricerca, nonché dei programmi musicali per carcerati e rifugiati. L’approccio comparativo di MUTE coinvolgerà Cipro, la Grecia, l’Unione sovietica, la Russia, l’America del Sud e altri paesi. Si tratta di uno studio teorico, empirico e interdisciplinare che riunisce la (etno)musicologia, l’antropologia sociale, la storia, la teoria critica, le leggi sui diritti umani e l’arte sonora.

Obiettivo

MUTE’s main objective is to investigate for the first time empirically and theoretically the use of music and sound in situations of confinement and displacement from the Cold War to contemporary times. It explores their weaponization in light of transnational developments in technologies of terror. At the same time, it carefully attends to how music/sound can become a tool of survival, even in the same setting in which they are weaponized. Also explored are ethical challenges of such research, and of music programmes for prisoners and refugees, highlighting their shortcomings and providing alternative models. MUTE innovates through a theoretical framework that investigates the interlocking of politics, ethics, and aesthetics, focusing on the ethics of sound and ethics of witnessing. Its comparative approach extends to (post)colonial Cyprus, Greece, Serbia, Germany, Soviet Union and contemporary Russia, Iraq, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. MUTE will critically analyse this complex phenomenon across the disciplines of (ethno)musicology, social anthropology, history, critical theory, human rights law and sound art, since it cannot be fully grasped through the methods of any one alone. The PI’s extensive immersion into all disciplinary components over the last decade, evident in her novel approach, ensures the successful implementation of research objectives. MUTE’s findings and results will transform scientific discourse, changing current perceptions about music’s social function. This historical recovery is important in revisiting and assessing detention-related policies and current definitions of torture. Given recent mass asylum seeking in Europe and the growing number of music research projects with refugees, it will offer the needed ethical, methodological and theoretical foundations for present and future research, ensuring the well-being of participants and researchers, research excellence, and critically nuanced scholarship.

Meccanismo di finanziamento

ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

Istituzione ospitante

ETHNIKO IDRYMA EREVNON
Contribution nette de l'UE
€ 1 662 495,22
Indirizzo
VAS KONSTANTINOU 48
11635 Athina
Grecia

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Regione
Αττική Aττική Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών
Tipo di attività
Research Organisations
Collegamenti
Costo totale
€ 1 662 495,22

Beneficiari (4)