Among Culture, Nature and Supernatural. Soundscapes of Sainte-Marie, Madagascar
Okładka czasopisma Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology, tom 25, nr 25, rok 2025, tytuł Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology
PDF (English)

Słowa kluczowe

Madagascar
soundscape
postcolonialism
cultural identity
hybridity

Jak cytować

Kopaniecki, J. (2026). Among Culture, Nature and Supernatural. Soundscapes of Sainte-Marie, Madagascar. Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology, 25(25), 47–57. https://doi.org/10.14746/ism.2025.25.5

Liczba wyświetleń: 0


Liczba pobrań: 0

Abstrakt

This article explores the soundscapes of Île de Sainte-Marie (Nosy Boraha), an island off the northeastern coast of Madagascar, by combining ethnographic fieldwork with perspectives from sound studies and postcolonial theory. While the research so far has focused on the sonic characteristics of Madagascar’s forests, this article investigates everyday urban, rural, ritual, and natural sound environments. Drawing on field recordings, participant observation, and interviews conducted during a 2024 ethnomusicological expedition, I analyse how sound mediates space, shapes identity, and reflects broader social dynamics. Through the lens of acoustemology and soundscape theory, I argue that sound in Sainte-Marie Island is not merely a backdrop but a cultural force – one that negotiates memory, community, and belonging in a postcolonial context.

https://doi.org/10.14746/ism.2025.25.5
PDF (English)

Bibliografia

Dong, Y., Liu, C., Wang, Y., & Fu, Z. (2024). Towards Understanding Worldwide Cross-Cultural Differences in Implicit Driving Cues: Review, Comparative Analysis, and Research Roadmap. 2024 IEEE 27th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 1569–1575.

Dröge, S., Fulgence, T. R., Osen, K., Rakotomalala, A. A. N. A., Raveloaritiana, E., Schwab, D., Soazafy, M. R., Wurz, A., Kreft, H., & Martin, D. A. (2024). Understanding acoustic indices as multi-taxa biodiversity and habitat quality indicators. Ecological Indicators, 169: 1–8.

Emoff, R. (2012). Tromba Children, Maresaka, and Postcolonial Malady in Madagascar. In B. Abels (Ed.), Austronesian Soundscapes: Performing Arts in Oceania and Southeast Asia (pp. 135–152). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Feld, S. (1996). Waterfalls of Song. An Acoustemology of Place Resounding in Bosavi, Papua New Guinea. In Senses of Place, School of American Research (pp. 91–135). Santa Fe: School of American Research.

Feld, S. (2012). Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression, 3rd edition with a new introduction by the author. Durham: Duke University Press.

Feld, S. (2015). Acoustemology. In D. Novak, M. Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound (pp. 12–21). Duke University Press.

Gautier, A. M. O. (2014). Aurality: Listening and Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Colombia. Durham: Duke University Press.

Howes, D., & Classen, C. (2013). Ways of Sensing: Understanding the Senses In Society. London & New York: Routledge.

LaBelle, B. (2019). Acoustic territories: Sound culture and everyday life (Second edition). London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Mahmood, J. A. (2021). What Do Car Horns Say? An Overview of the Non-Verbal Communication of Horn Honking. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 09(08), 375–388.

Muras, W. (2015). Rowerowe brzmienia w przestrzeni miejskiej Wrocławia. Audiosfera. Koncepcje – Badania – Praktyki, 2: 42–54.

Nativel, D. (2016). Les sens de la nuit. Enquête sur des sensorialités urbaines coloniales à Madagascar et au Mozambique. Sociétés politiques comparées, 38: 2–15.

Newman, S., & Sacks, S. L. (2023). Sound Studies from Africa. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 35(4): 353–357.

Nwoka, C. C. (2023). The horn speaks: A sociolinguistic analysis of horn honking as a non-verbal communication among Nigerian road users. FEDPOLAD Journal of Management, 3(1): 58–66.

Obijiaku, C. (2020). Where the streams share a course: An exploration of postcolonial African urban soundscape. [Master’s Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand].

Peypoch, N., Randriamboarison, R., Rasoamananjara, F., & Solonandrasana, B. (2012). The length of stay of tourists in Madagascar. Tourism Management, 33(5): 1230–1235.

Pijper, M. (2023). Evaluating forest restoration effects on timing of avian dawn chorus in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. [Master’s Thesis, Utrecht University].

Pink, S. (2009). Doing Sensory Ethnography. SAGE.

Rankin, L., & Axel, A. C. (2017). Biodiversity Assessment in Tropical Biomes using Ecoacoustics: Linking Soundscape to Forest Structure in a Human-dominated Tropical Dry Forest in Southern Madagascar. In Ecoacoustics (pp. 129–145). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rink, B., Gumede, S., Moubachir, I., Seebach, N., & Widmer, P. (2025). Sonic urbanism(s): Listening to the city. Cultural Geographies, 32(2): 281–286.

Stoever, J. L. (2016). The Sonic Color Line: Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening. New York: New York University Press.