Soundscapes for Social Change: Community and Consciousness through Sound Design Rhetorics
Amy S. Patterson · TigerPrints (Clemson University) · 2020
By applying a “sound-mapping” methodology that incorporates qualitative interviews and field research, I argue that theater sound design provides new means to connect sonic rhetorics with social change. I examine theater sound design as an ecological composing practice that lends itself to empathy, community, action, and pedagogy; and further argue that there is rhetorical potential in what I call “soundscapes for social change,” a concept that encourages sonic agency and sound as contemporary resistance. The theater setting introduces sound and vibration experiences carefully calculated and developed to impact a variety of audiences and stir their imaginations through sensory experiences, accessed not just through the ear but also through the body.