Cultural Design: Towards an Anthropology of Soundscapes

Chapter 1
Cultural Design: Towards an Anthropology of Soundscapes
Derek Pardue
Abstract
In this essay I investigate the current status of sound as a category of anthropological analysis. While it is true that culturalresearch of music has been informed theoretically and methodologically by anthropology particularly and social sciences moregenerally, to what extent is anthropology (ethno)musicological? I argue that anthropologists should pay more critical attention
to the hermeneutics of soundscapes, for such processes contribute significantly to sociocultural formations within a dynamicthat I call term “cultural design.” Sound and its more organized subset of music exceed the category of performative events.
Sound is an order of discourse through and with which people articulate other discursive modes such as language and body
movement. Specifically, I investigate two ethnographic situations of consumerism located in the US to demonstrate how persons
create powerful connections with spaces, in which sound and music are not the center of focal awareness.
Keywords: soundscape, musicology, consumer culture, everyday life

Two Settings

Second scene: Located in a posh, affluent neighborhood of Dupont Circle in Washington D.C., we perused

My wife and I pull up to Applebee’s restaurant lo-

two bookstores, one used -- a small, local establishment andcated just off the interstate in the midst of dozens of otherthe second a retail franchise called Afterwords (restaurant

franchise outlets. 11:30 on a Wednesday morning in north-and bookstore). We looked at each other with a smile, as

west Champaign, Illinois. A young man opens the door for

suddenly we heard the voice of Cesária Évora, the recently

us and leads us past a series of Elvis photos and prints, pastdeceased Cape Verdean diva. I asked the cash register em-

the black and white prints of Sinatra, Amelia Earhart, John

ployee the price of a book by Baudrillard, buttoned up myWayne, past the 1989 NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic

overcoat and we exited into the street where a brisk, chilly

Association) Final Four banners from the University of Illi-breeze was stirring. We took the Metro back to Vienna Sta-nois “Illini” basketball team, past the Illini baseball bats andtion in Northern Virginia, where my mother’s SUV wasfootball helmets secured to the restaurant’s walls, and to ourparked.

table. The dining tables are scattered in a horseshoe pattern

I will leave these two ethnographic situations foraround the lower level bar. It is difficult to sit down and not

the moment in order to sketch out a line of thought, whichhave a TV in some line of your view. ESPN (Entertainment

I hope provokes a reconsideration and reckoning of theseSports Programming Network) highlights from last night’sbanal places. These places, where sound is hardly the focal

baseball and hockey games. Sound off. Most of the clientele

point of sensation or creation, are, in fact, meaningfully in-(pre-business lunch crowd) were elderly women, a few men,

scripted soundscapes.

in parties of three to four dressed in spring tennis apparel,

This essay is not about music and music analysis. It isvisors, light pastel colors. They were ordering taco salads

not really about musical topics – events, performance styles,

and some taking the plunge for the all-you-can-eat rib spe-genres, transnational music industries, aesthetics, or tastes.

cial. The music coming from the embedded ceiling speakers

Instead, this essay is an attempt to reconsider the place ofranged from Shania Twain to “oldies” to “alternative rock”

music and sound in the constitution of human culture, notas our food arrived. I took notice and looked around to seejust as a salient topic ripe for anthropological analysis andif anyone else did.

not just a potential analogy to sociocultural formations. My
87Derek Pardue

approach builds upon the important theoretical contribu-

Richard Waterman, Alan Merriam, and Anthony Seeger.

tions of Anthony Seeger’s “musical anthropology” (1987)

In essence, few scholars these days have any qualms in as-

and Steven Feld’s “sound structure as social structure”

serting that ethnomusicology is anthropological – BUT is(1982; 1984a). For example, Seeger explains the distinction

anthropology ethnomusicological?

between “musical anthropology” and Merriam’s “anthropol-

I believe that the techniques and theories of un-

ogy of music” (Merriam 1964) in the following manner:

derstanding, explaining and representing music should be“an anthropology of music looks at the way music is part ofreconsidered as partially constitutive of anthropology be-culture and social life. By way of contrast a musical anthro-cause music partially constitutes culture. This statement has

pology looks at the way musical performances create many

multiple ramifications. Two of which include pedagogy andaspects of culture and social life” (1987: xiii). Moreover, intheory. It is significant, in my opinion, that “Introduction

his ethnography about popular music in Zimbabwe, Tom

to Cultural Anthropology” courses rarely, if ever, include

Turino argues that musical practice reveals the workings“music” as a key term on the syllabi. In this vein, Bruno

of society when he defines music making as a “particularly

Nettl asks, “what position does music have in anthropol-

direct medium of value, identity and lifeways; [therefore, it]ogy at large, in those publications that present or deal with

provides a useful window to the problem [of the accelerated

the field of anthropology as a whole, or with human culture

neocolonial expansion of modernist-capitalist economics

at large, or for that matter holistically with individual cul-and ethics]” (2000:4; see also Turino 2008).

tures?” (1994:1) Music does not appear to be an organizing

I go further and argue that the presence of soundissue that informs social structure, informs identity forma-and music also constitutes socially meaningful scenes, intion processes, informs such seemingly far away domains as

which the general focal awareness is not on the sound per

global economic flows and corporate marketing strategies.

se. In this manner, music exceeds the categories of “topic”

In terms of theory, I want to push for a closer reading or re-and “model” and moves into a more general one of “modal-interpretation of one of Alan Merriam’s pithy phrases: “music

ity,” i.e., a manner of ordering and patterning the world,

as culture” (1977) or even “music is culture, what musiciansrooted in human practices and social institutions (see Feld’s

do is society” (1975). For me, what is behind this forceful

discussion of “acoustemology” in Feld 2003). Over the pastrhetoric is a provocative logic, which potentially has signifi-

decade more scholars from a wide range of disciplines havecant repercussions for how humanists and social scientists

turned attention to sound (see Feld 2012; Feld and Brenneis

understand humans’ being-in-the-world and humans’ (re)2004 for reviews); however, the focus continues to be on

making-the-world.

“people who live in intensely rich aural environments” (FeldMusic is non-linguistic “humanly organized sound”

and Brenneis 2004: 261). Greater attention to music and(Blacking 1973),2) which emphasizes a “poetic” register orsound in this manner as it occurs in everyday life can pro-“function.” This poetic register highlights different practices

vide insight into the “cultural design” of social spaces andthan what language offers denotated by the terms melody,

meanings. My use of “cultural design” is an attempt to joinharmony and rhythm, for example. From this perspective,

anthropology and social sciences with graphic design andmusic is “a perfection of form” although these characteris-1)

semiotics.

tics can be afforded to speech genres such as rhetoric andoral poetry. In such cases, one is often dependent on ethno-

Anthropology and Ethnomusicology

methodology to aid in making music/speech distinctions.
In essence, music is a symbolic mode of discourse, i.e., it is a

It is true that the formation and development of themeaningful text and shapes ideology and status. Yet, anthro-

discipline of ethnomusicology owes a great deal to anthro-pologists, who are not interested in musical topics, normallypology. The list of important anthropologists, who havetreat music as “special interest phenomena,” epiphenomenal,

made music a central point of their research and advanced

or merely part of fruitful “thick description.”more general theories of sound as a cultural product and

Why this is so is, of course, not simply because

later cultural process is extensive, e.g., Boas, Herskovits,

anthropologists have assumed that music is out of our/88

Cultural Design: Towards an Anthropology of Soundscapes

their league. Many practitioners of musicology and ethno-

be so many different reasons and since I don’t know

musicology are very much complicit in this attitude thatthe reason . . . I mean I could . . . for example, I could

music criticism is only for the proper savant and the “true”

say: the relationship I have with my dad is positive

practicing musician. Just as social and cultural anthropol-

and a close one and he listens to it and I have feelings

ogy continue the ongoing struggle to maintain a handle on

toward him . . . positive feelings toward my family andthe concept of “culture,” musicology and ethnomusicology

my home. Or I could talk about the technical musicalhave long debated the delineation of their respective fields,

aspect and how the music is intentionally designed tomethodologies, theoretical perspectives, and general pur-evoke certain feelings. Or I could talk about my high3)

pose. Consequently, partially in the interest of disciplinary

school experiences playing the oboe . . . experiences

legitimation, musicologists have reified the notion of music

walking through gothic cathedrals, spending the after-

as a topical interest accompanied by a certain set of ana-noons listening to Bach cantatas, and how architecture

lytical terminology. To discuss music then is to talk about. . . and these singers in the front and the little cham-musical performances and other practices as revealing units

ber orchestra. And maybe it’s partially all of them. Or

of a more general culture. This is what some have called themaybe it’s absolutely none of them. I don’t know andinvestigation of “musical traditions” and the host of com-

I never will know . . . It’s not a scientific experiment.

4)

plex processes by which such things are constituted. SuchAnd I’m glad, because I don’t want to know . . .I don’tfoci are all well and good; however, one result of such eth-want to know. I don’t care.

nomusicological epistemologies has been that the quotidian[interview about Gail’s love of Bach in Keil, Crafts, andpresence of music, especially in its most “anti-performative”

Cavicchi 1993: 97-8]

contexts (e.g. elevators, TV commercials, spaces of transportation, office spaces, grocery stores, etc.), has not emerged

Q: What does music mean to you?

as a worthwhile point of critical reflection and intellectual

A: Music is just part of life, like air. You live with it all

5)

production in either ethnomusicology or anthropology. In

the time, so it’s tough to judge what it means to you. .

short, despite such sonic presences, scholars of any stripe. I turn on the radio and it’s there in the morning; it’s

have been overwhelmingly reluctant to comment due to thethere when I drive; it’s there when I go out . . . I putlack of any “style,” genre or tradition.

five or seven hundred miles on a week . . . and in theSome scholars have tried to approach the ubiquity ofcar, it [radio] can be on, it can be off, and if I’m think-sound and culturally meaningful by simply collecting data.

ing, or whatever, I don’t listen to the radio. Very rarely

Thick description in and of itself provokes a reorientation

do I consciously listen to the radio.

of thought. For example, during the early 90s Charles Keil,[Neil’s philosophy on music and life in Keil, Crafts,

Susan Crafts, and Daniel Cavicchi produced an interesting

and Cavicchi 1993: 109]

document called My Music (1993). Part of “Music in Daily
Life Project,” the book is a collection of stories told by every-

Despite many theoretical shortcomings, this study

day people in Buffalo, NY about their views and tastes con-does succeed in demonstrating the various ways in which

cerning music. There are two dominant themes with regard

people use music to make meaning out of their lives andto music’s role in society – indistinct ubiquity and mysticalthus remake themselves. These connections exceed andstatus of unexplainable genius. Below are two excerpts from

often contradict those calculated by music recording indus-

interviews collected in My Music.

tries and other music-oriented institutions in the form ofcommercial market categories.6) The interviews show quite

Q:. . . I understand the positive, festive, but what is it inplainly that non-musicians are capable and sometimes in-

the music that’s doing it for you? You say it’s festive, butvested in deconstructing musical meaning (even if it is inwhy?

terms of utter banality). So concerned about demonstrating

A: . . . I don’t know . . . I just think this is great. I think it’sand explaining the complexities of human societies and hu-

unexplainable. Maybe the problem is that there could

man interaction, anthropologists tend to stay right in step89

Derek Pardue

with the popular belief that music is either “magical” or cul-Music, Articulation, and Cultural Formationtural wallpaper. Anthropologists pride themselves on having
cultural insight by “making the strange familiar and the fa-

People create and organize music as a way of being-

miliar strange” and yet, for many, music remains a separate

in-the-world and remaking the world. This is an active pro-realm of human expression impenetrable to “non-experts.”

cess in performance and listening that utilizes perception as

Music is then a magical sphere of beauty and emotion – notan ordering activity. Music is a complex semiotic system that

7)

ours to deconstruct, analyze, and represent. Again, musi-

is not just iconic, i.e., of resemblance, like onomatopoeia orcologists and ethnomusicologists are complicit in this, as in“programme music” or samples, indexical, i.e., referential

the struggle to legitimate music-making as a complex social

to places, time periods, etc., but also, symbolic, in the sense

activity in all cultures, scholars such as John Blacking havethat music can link sound to non-referential objects such as

reinforced the notion of music as a separate system of values

emotions, feelings, and “groove” (Feld and Keil 1994). Music

deserving a certain kind of expertise. As Nettl states, thatis symbolic, in the words of Langer, because it lets us “con-many non-musician anthropologists “are scared of dealing

ceive its object. . .what it invites is not emotional responsewith music [is] an attitude foisted on the lay public by the

but insight [into] the content of art [which] is always real”

academic music profession” (1994: 8).

(1953:223). Music is symbolic because we perceive particu-

Furthermore, anthropologists and other social scientists tend to approach music in its everyday presence aslar relationships not in music per se but through musicalsigns (or sign-complexes).

indeed too mundane for critical reflection. The hissing tran-

Following Susanne Langer and other music schol-

sistor radio wining on and on during the researcher’s travels

ars who understand the significance of music as beyondin rural and urban México may receive a poetic mention

symptomatics (somatic responses) and semantics, I believeby the author but rarely is it considered constitutive of thethat music is not about individual expression of emotionsocial space of bus life or the bus driver’s labor negotiations

or nostalgia or the abstract inner workings of the mind butor the general sense of being in a place and thus affording

rather, music is an articulate mode through which persons

a range of dispositions. The contradictory conceptualiza-

demonstrate certain knowledge about the world. Theories

tion of music that pits its utter necessity against its impos-

about music as a “significant form” have been traditionallysible comprehension perhaps is best demonstrated by Levi-written in terms of music performance or even concert orStrauss in his extremely influential book on Bororó myth,show situations, but what about in social scenes where mu-

The Raw and the Cooked, in which he writes:

sic is not the major player in focal awareness. No one in thescene is a musician, no one is talking about music – it’s justMusic raises a much more difficult problem, because

playing in the “background.” Let’s revisit the ethnographic

we know nothing of the mental conditions in whichsites of Applebees and Afterwords.

musical creation takes place . . . But since music is aMusic, even in family restaurants and corporate

language with some meaning at least for the immensebookstores is generative of culture (Sterne 1997; Pardue

majority of mankind, although only a tiny minority of2007). Designers and consumers match and compare theirpeople are capable of formulating a meaning in it, andmusical interpretations and establish recognition of certain

since it is the only language with the contradictorynormalizing discourses. What I am calling “normalizing

character of being at once intelligible and untranslat-

discourse” is similar to what Judith and Alton Becker (1981)

able, the musical creator of music is a being compa-

referred to as a level of “coherence” within the process ofrable to the gods and make music itself the supremereckoning the present musico-social frame (see also Feld

mystery of the science of man, a mystery that all the

1984b: 12-13). Such normalizing discourses contribute tovarious disciplines come up against and which holds

a franchise environment such as Applebees that consists

the key to their progress. [Levi-Strauss 1983: 18]of pop culture and nostalgia. It is indeed curious that thedecorative posters of “Gone with the Wind,” Warner Brothers cartoons, and Charlie Chaplin along with the street signs

90Cultural Design: Towards an Anthropology of Soundscapes

printed “Hollywood → ” are articulated to the restaurant

position recognize and categorize the sounds of Cesária

motto of a “neighborhood grill.” Moreover, the production

Évora along with those of the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Yous-of geography and customers’ sense of place is significantly

sou N’dour, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo as familiar.10)

bolstered by the ambient music. The category of “alternative

While the individual certainly exercises a variablerock” is in contemporary times part of a logical series in line

level of specific, topical knowledge of the sounds and may

with “oldies” and songs by Shania Twain and the Allman

articulate these sounds to a wide range of meanings, theBrothers, as sonic references are provided in an age-inclu-

general presence of the music in these places is far fromsive manner moving from national level to regional andarbitrary. Rather, the construction of such soundscapes isrural imaginations. No one stood up and objected to sounds

intended and often perceived as a particular effort towards

such as guitar distortion, raspy, wavering (pitch) vocals ofsociality. The process, which I have termed “sociality” here,

the “alt rock.” They’ve heard this before. Based on informal

is an anthropological perspective of what graphic designers

interviews and survey questionnaires, I discovered thatand advertisers often call the “vehicle of memory” (Randcustomers expect certain sound-organizations to be part of

1998: 11). That is to say, the process by which persons rec-their public restaurant franchise experience. With the vol-ognize, connect, and identify with products and services is

ume fairly low, the music provides a foundation soundscapealso an important process by which persons construct social

with which customers feel inclined to have conversations.

groups in real or virtual spaces. In sum, then, both Apple-

The visual memorabilia along with the images provided bybees and Afterwords demonstrate everyday examples of the

ESPN and other sports networks on the strategically placed

conjuncture of sound and marketplace, in which significant

televisions add to the commonly held idea of restaurant associal spaces are partially created by sound.

“entertainment.” In this sense, the articulation of sound-

The analytical sketch above serves as a working

scapes contribute to the overall cultural design within amethodological template for the theoretical arguments“family” restaurant setting, which is specifically connected

made in this essay. An anthropology of soundscapes as partto the corporate logo and motto of Applebees. These desig-

of a more general investigation into the cultural design11)

nating forces help objectify the otherwise abstract conceptof everyday life requires musical sensitivity and reflectionof “Applebees” and thus fortify persons’ identification of theand not necessarily musical terminology. In both ethno-

8)musicology and musical anthropology, the articulation of

In Afterwords as well as the smaller bookstore insound to culture has warranted a process of reification, e.g.,

Washington D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood, the pres-music and nationalism or an anthropology of ritual singing.

corporation with a sense of place.

9)

ence of world beat contributes to a different sort of socio-

In certain cases, especially those in which persons occupy

geographical production. Still one of consumerist comfort,

and transform spaces for the primary purpose of music-

the soundscape in these bookstores, in this case highlighting

making, it has been revealing analytically to objectify music

the music of Cesária Évora from Cape Verde, integrates withand explain its discursive use vis-à-vis musical transcription

the categories of products. Absent are the strong references

and social context. However, much of sound’s presence into the US regionality (unless such indices have been taken

everyday life resists objectification, for the focus of human

up into transnational markets, e.g. jazz and to some extent

desire and attention is elsewhere. In such cases as the ones

blues and hip-hop/”electronica” genres) as consumption is

I outline above, sound analysis does not necessarily need togeared to the international. Browsing from cookbooks toinclude rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic analysis per se but

travel guides to literary theory I along with other shoppers

rather a lexicon which attempts to integrate levels of analy-

occupy and partially create a space of social class basedsis. In this manner, anthropology can productively accountprimarily on taste. Again, based on informal conversations

for sound’s entanglement in the human construction of so-and customer surveys, I conclude that Afterwords is a place

cial environments, i.e., cultural design.

which indexes a “cosmopolitan class,” a banal yet globally

Critical assessment of sound involves analytical cat-extensive class position, which is both local and translocal

egories such as volume, sequence, contextual contingency,

in nature. Persons who desire or simply occupy this social

and timbre. In the two examples above, the cultural design91Derek Pardueof consumerism is partially achieved through soundscapes,

these spaces are some of the most extensive and ubiquitous.

which emphasize relatively low volume amplifications andFurthermore, critical reflection upon such spaces illumi-

a balanced mix among instruments and vocals. There isnates the complexities of the local-translocal nexus withina double backgrounding articulation in operation as thecultural formations, which stands today as one of the great-

general volume is lowered and as a result, the distinctive

est challenges in contemporary anthropological theory. In

registers of pitch, e.g., bass, high screams, guitar distor-

conclusion, it seems to me that it is precisely these everyday

tions, are flattened. General recognition and familiarity areplaces, where current scrutiny in anthropology and cultural

maintained as persons negotiate their stay, whether it isstudies should be articulated to musical analysis, thus creat-in the more formally structured scene of restaurant “showing a better understanding and more complete representa-

business” (Applebees) or in the relatively open-ended time-tion of sociocultural phenomena.

space of Afterwords.

Conclusion
Awareness of and critical attention to this power (enabling and constraining) of music is important in cultural
analysis. Ultimately, anthropology as the study of humansocial action and the processes of organization of such action must include sound critically. Whether persons techni-

Notes1) It is significant to note that in European and European-based
cultures the design arts such as architecture, fashion, interior andgraphic design have been in many ways practices, which insist on
the integration of aesthetics and sociality. And, for this reason, suchfields and their practitioners have been marginalized as neither
artists nor “social workers” under the persistent episteme of “art as
autonomous” or “art for art’s sake” (see Meggs 1992: xiii).

cally perform music or not, all people perceive sound and2) Certainly, there is debate around this statement; yet, I would main-organize it in particular ways (both shared and distinctive)

tain that the act of human perception and organization of suchas we navigate and are positioned intersubjectively fromperception makes controversial examples such as whale cries music

frame to frame. In reality, we as individuals enter/exit andclick on/off a wide range of sociocultural scenes everyday.12)
As agents of various institutions of society, we are aware of

not the whale cries themselves. I do not know the various whale categories of perception and intention for such acts.
3) For a more detailed account of such debates and attempts to define
ethnomusicology, see Blum (1986); Hood (1971); Kunst (1960,

the selection processes of what sounds to emphasize so that1969); McAllester (1971); Merriam (1969, 1975, 1977 ); and Seeger

certain subject positions emerge or logically should emerge.

(1970, 1971, 1977 ).

Our affinities, disgust, or indifference (i.e., dispositions)4) See, for example, Stephen Blum’s article (Blum 1986: 10-11).

are more often than not connected to certain soundscapes.

5) Some exceptions include the work of Jonathan Sterne (1997) andSound and its more organized subset of music are part of amore general design of cultural scenes. To ignore criticallythe little, blues-based ditty, which recurs throughout the aseries of Coors beer commercials (“An Original Coors” onAnahid Kassabian (2001).
6) For a detailed critique of the Music in Daily Life Project see Gilbert
B. Rodman’s article (1997). The most striking critique being that My
Music reveals only individual employment of music in terms of what
the authors term “idiocultures” (1993: 2). However, the study fails to

NBC television network during weekend and weekly prime-

show how individuals perform sociality through music or how mu-time sports events) as insignificant in the political economy

sic is a contributing force in the process of forging and maintainingof sports, alcohol, and US nationalism is similar to ignoringsocial groups for a range of purposes (political, economic, religious,

the typography and color composition in commercials ofhigh profile investment firms or on the mid-town Manhattan billboards or within travel internet sites.
Whether it’s the operative epistemes of globaliza-etc.).
7) Bruno Nettl makes the observation that this reticence in musicalanalysis by anthropologists is not the case with regard to visual arts,
where there is a long-standing tradition of collection and scrutiny.
“Non-musicians avoid talking about music for fear of criticism, ation (D.C. bookstores) or regional and national pop cul-

fear they don’t have to the same degree when talking about visual art

ture (Applebees), music is a significant player in this sortof literature” (1994:11).

of articulation work. I have concentrated on situations of8) In his book Designing Identity (1998), Marc English chronicles vari-consumerism in contemporary spaces of capitalism because

ous cases of how graphic design problems were articulated to corpo-

92

Cultural Design: Towards an Anthropology of Soundscapes

rate identity strategies in business. The symbolic specificities of thebusiness or organizational logo-identity nexus are best capsulated
in his discussion of how the proliferation and familiarization of the

In The Sign in Music and Literature. Wendy Steiner, ed. pp.
184-194. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Blum, StephenfX cable company logo was achieved vis-à-vis objectification in the1986. Ethnomusicologists vis-a-vis the Fallacies of Contemporary

form of not only commercial merchandise but also (and more inter-

Musical Life In Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology 1-19.

estingly) advertisements with “fX” as a building block centerpiece ofthe photographic composition (1998: 26-31).
9) Again, I want to make it clear that the approach I take to explain theposh bookstore space, while it incorporates a working knowledge of“world beat,” is significantly different from the important literature
written about “world beat” as musical topic connected to transnational music recording industries and the incessant issues of authenticity (“roots,” “old school,” “real,” etc.), ownership, and commodification. The work of Steven Feld (Feld & Keil, 1994: 238-246, 2000),
George Lipsitz (1999), Timothy D. Taylor (1997), Thomas Turino(2000), Louise Meintjes (1990), Gage Averill (1996), and Roger Wallis and Krister Malm (1984, 1992) along with many others should
be cited here.
10) See Turino (2000: 7-12) for a useful explanation how cosmopolitanism contributes to a pervasive sense of “natural common sense”
in its force as a socializing agent, as multiple and adaptive in its formation, and as an ideological construction among elites.
11) I choose the word “design” also for its inherent gerundial connota-

English, Marc
1998. Designing Identity: Graphic Design as a Business Strategy.
Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers.
Feld, Steven1982 Sound and Sentiment. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
1984a Sound Structure as Social Structure. In Ethnomusicology
28(3): 383-409.
1984b Communication, Music, and Speech about Music. In Yearbook for Traditional Musics. 1-18.
2000 Globalization - A Sweet Lullaby for World Music. In Public
culture 12(1):145-173.
2003 A Rainforest Acoustemology. In The Auditory Culture Reader.
Michael Bull and Les Back ed. Berg, 223-240.
2012 Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra: Five Musical Years in Ghana.
Durham: Duke University Press.
Feld, Steven and Don Brenneis
2004 Doing Anthropology in Sound. In American Ethnologist 31(4):tions. The concept of “design” both as noun and verb allows for the461-474.

term to index forces of constraint and creativity entangled in current

Feld Steven and Charles Keilinterpretations of social agency and cultural meaning.
12) My approach here is similar to Lawrence Grossberg’s concept of“rock formation” as integrated into cultural formations. “Particular
musical and lyrical practices – which will be articulated differently in
different alliances – are always located in a complex set of relations,
not only to other musical practices but also to images of performers and fans, structures of social and economic relations, aesthetic
conventions, styles of language, movement, appearance and dance,ideological commitments, and sometimes media representations of
the formations and alliances themselves” (1992: 132).

1994 Music Grooves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Grossberg, Lawrence
1992 We Gotta Get Out of This Place. New York: Routledge.
Hood, Mantle
1971 The Ethnomusicologist. Kent State University Press.
Jakobson, Roman
1960 Linguistics and Poetics. In Style in Language. Thomas Sebeok,ed. pp. 350-377.
Kassabian, Anahid
2001 Healing Film: Teacking Identification in Contemporary Hollywood Film Music. New York: Routledge.

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