Listening, Belonging, and Memory

Description

Listening is giving attention to something, a sound, a story, a person; to illness (Your heart), location (The Sea) and to Silence (Death). This book takes this idea of "giving attention" to argue that this process is complicated by who, where and when we listen. Using examples from community media projects, film-making, digital storytelling and creative music practice, it argues that listening might be done with age, in place, in time and as witness. With reflections on how listening may be changed by where we listen, when and who to, it argues for the importance of understanding the crucial role that listening has in contemporary media and sound cultures.

Abigail Gardner is Associate Professor in Music and Media at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. Publications include Ageing and Contemporary Female Musicians (2020), Aging and Popular Music in Europe (2020), PJ Harvey and Music Video Performance (2015) and Rock On: Women, Ageing and Popular Music (2012).