Sounding the Anthropocene: site-based realisations of eco-critical aurality in the wetlands and the drylands

This thesis investigates the capacity of sound to measure and give voice to two contrasting terrestrial environments: the marshy bogs of the Northern Irish peatlands and the dune seas of the Rub al-Khali or Empty Quarter desert in the UAE. Drawing upon the situational knowledges of practice research, I conduct an enquiry into two sonic phenomena specific to these two environments: peatland evolution subsurface bog bubbling of carbon dioxide and methane gas and singing sand a resonance effect in large sand dunes, caused by granular shear flow. These earthy sounds render environmental change audible in new ways. From the wetlands to the drylands, this thesis proposes strategies for the doing of sound, or cultivating particular modes of sounding through practice, though which I produce new understandings on these two phenomena, examine audible relationalities between humans and their more-than-human environments, and reflect on how both sounding and refusing to sound environments shape relations of power, difference, and resistance. The practice is generative of my research insights, theoretical frameworks, and creative work. Through this, the thesis aims to provide sonic actualisations of theoretical apparatuses for ecocritical aurality. The new insights gained from these methods of sonic practice open dialogue between environmental arts, humanities and sciences, interrogating the need for different situated sensings of the Anthropocene. This type of research orientation takes music and sound as more than objects of study to be documented and disclosed, but as ways of focusing thought about the concrete world.

The doctoral submission consists of a written dissertation and a portfolio of original project materials, including audio listening examples derived from fieldwork, and my creative practice in electroacoustic and acoustic mediums.

Supervisory team, Professor Pedro Rebelo, Professor Graeme Swindles, and Professor Jen Bagelman