KYLE SHOCKEYINDIANA UNIVERSITY

@KSHOCKEY04K.SHOCKEY04@GMAIL.COM

CAPAL ‘15 – 1 JUNE 2015

Resisting Neoliberal Aurality in the Academic Library

In Brief

What this is

Convergence of discourses, literature

Reconceptualization of space

Introduction of ethical framework

What this is not

A how-toA prescriptionA checklist

WHAT DO I MEAN?

neoliberalism

(ENRIGHT 2013; ONG 2007, P. 3)

“technology of governing”

(JAMES 2014, P. 139)

IT “SETS THE PARAMATERS WITHIN WHICH SPECIFIC

PRACTICES ARE MEANINGFUL AND FUNCTIONAL” (JAMES

2014, P. 139; WINNUBST 2012)

“background epistemic or ideological context”

Economic governance Social epistemology

Enright 2013; Harvey 2005

PrivitizationFinancializationManagement &

Manipulation of CrisesState Redistribution

James 2014; Winnubst 2012

DeregulationIntensificationResilience (James

2015)Human capital

How does governance map to epistemology?

ATTALI (1997)

This has precedent.

Sound studies & aurality

Why sound studies?

Deep listening as a critical lens makes us rethink (Bull and Back 2003):

the meaning, nature, and significance of our social experience

our relation to communityhow we relate to others, ourselves, and the

spaces and places we inhabitour relationship to power

R. Murray Schafer Barry Truax

The Simon Frazer Influence

(SCHAFER 1975; BLESSER & SALTER 2007)

The Soundscape

NOISE!

Noise is a value judgment.(Bijsterveld 2003, 2007; Hendy 2013)

Which contributes to:Power/political posturing in social space

Branding of sonic capitalSuppression of dissent

Privitization of social sound spaceClassism through aesthetics of listening

Noise abatement as political and economic efficiency

(YELENIK AND BRESSLER 2013)

It’s all about noise abatement.

This is unquestioned.

The framework

Interpersonal ethics – Warren following Levinas.

Photo Credits

Barry Truax photo courtesy of Barry Truax & Simon Frazer University

R. Murray Schafer photo courtesy of Wikimedia

References

Attali, J. (1977). Noise: The political economy of music. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Blesser, B and Salter, L. R. (2007). Spaces speak, are you listening?: Experiencing aural architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Bijsterveld, K. (2003). “The diabolical symphony of the mechanical age: Technology and symbolism of sound in European and North American noise abatement campaigns, 1900-40.” In Bull, M. and Back, L., eds. The auditory culture reader, 165-189. Oxford: Berg.

Bijsterveld, K. (2008). Mechanical sound: Technology, culture, and public problems of noise in the twentieth century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Bull, M. and Back, L., (2003). “Introduction: into sound.” In Bull, M. and Back, L., eds. The auditory culture reader, 1-18. Oxford: Berg.

References, continued

Enright, N. (2013). “The violence of information literacy: Neoliberalism and the human as capital.” In Gregory, L. and Higgins, S., eds., Information literacy and social justice: Radical professional praxis, 17-38. Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press.

Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Harvey, D. (2007). “Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 610(1), 21-44.

Hendy, D. (2013). Noise: A human history of sound and listening. London: Profile Books.

James, R. (2014). “Neoliberal Noise: Attali, Foucault, and the biopolitics of uncool.” Culture, Theory and Critique 55(2), 138-158.

James, R. (2015). Resilience and melancholy: Pop music, feminism, neoliberalism. Winchester, UK: Zero Books.

Ong, A. (2007). “Boundary crossings: Neoliberalism as a mobile technology.” Trans Inst Br Geogr 32(3–8), 3-8.

References, continued

Schafer, R. M. (1994). The soundscape: Our sonic environment and the tuning of our world. Rochester, VT. : Destiny Books.

Schwartz, H. (2003). “The indefensible ear: A history.” In ” In Bull, M. and Back, L., eds. The auditory culture reader, 489-510. Oxford: Berg.

Truax, B. (2001). Acoustic Communication. 2nd ed. Westport, CT: Ablex.

Warren, J. R. (2014) Music and ethical responsibility. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Winnubst, S. (2012). “The queer thing about neoliberal pleasure.” Foucault Studies 14, 79-97.

Yelenik, K. and Bressler, D. (2013). The perfect storm: A review of the literature on increased noise levels in academic libraries. College & Undergraduate Libraries 20(1): 40-51.