The sound in the pluriverse:
A “listening” into global south theory interdisciplinary approaches
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22478/ufpb.2763-9398.2026v25n.76249Keywords:
Sound studies, global south studies, pluriverse, case study, academic critiqueAbstract
The article draws on the training events of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Global South Studies (ICGSS), University of Tübingen (Germany), to reflect on a gap in studies of “sound and the South” (Steingo; Sykes, 2019, p. 1) within an inter/transdisciplinary curriculum. The introduction outlines this absence and its implications, arguing that it reproduces a sensory monoculture that limits the center’s decolonial potential. The text has three parts: (1) reflection on ICGSS events (2015–2023), based on online archives; (2) in situ analysis of the 2023 summer school (with our participation and work on the pluriverse); and (3) narrative bibliographic review on the potential of sound to understand the South, in, of, and for the South. The introduction and conclusion stress that the aim is not to establish hierarchies or fix dichotomies, but to invite readers to see and listen to pluriverses.
Downloads
References
ACOSTA, A.; MARTÍNEZ, A. M. Buen Vivir: an alternative perspective from the peoples of the Global South to the crisis of capitalist modernity. In: SATGAR, V. (ed.). Climate crisis: South African and global democratic eco-socialist alternatives. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2018. p. 131-147.
ALATAS, Syed Farid. Academic Dependency and the Global Division of Labour in the Social Sciences. Current Sociology, v. 51, n. 6, p. 599–613, nov. 2003.
ANZALDUÁ, G. Borderlands: the new mestiza = La frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987.
BEN-DAVID, A.; AMRAM, A. The Internet Archive and the socio-technical construction of historical facts. Internet Histories, v. 2, n. 1–2, p. 179–201, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2018.1455412.
CHANDOLA, T. Listening into others: moralising the soundscapes in Delhi. International Development Planning Review, v. 34, n. 4, p. 391–408, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2012.24.
CHERTKOVSKAYA, E. Ecology of culture. In: KOTHARI, A.; SALLEH, A.; ESCOBAR, A. et al. (org.). Pluriverse: a post-development dictionary. New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2019.
CICHOCKI, P. Production of sound, production of knowledge. Seismograf, n. 23, p. 1, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48233/seismograf2303.
DEMARIA, F.; KOTHARI, A.; SALLEH, A.; ESCOBAR, A. et al. Post-development: from the critique of development to a pluriverse of alternatives. In: VILLAMAYOR-TOMAS, S.; MURADIAN, R. (eds.). The Barcelona School of Ecological Economics and Political Ecology. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. p. 59–69. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22566-6_6.
ESCOBAR, A. Designs for the pluriverse: radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds. Durham: Duke University Press, 2018.
FANON, F. This is the voice of Algeria. In: STERNE, J. (ed.). The sound studies reader. New York: Routledge, 2012. p. 329–335.
HAINGE, G. Noise matters: towards an ontology of noise. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
JAMES, W. A Pluralistic Universe. Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy. Lincoln, London: University of Nebraska Press, 1996 [1909].
KATZ, Mark. Capturing sound: how technology has changed music. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
KRENAK, A. Futuro ancestral. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2022.
KROMHOUT, M. The logic of filtering: how noise shapes the sound of recorded music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
MIGNOLO, W. Desobediência epistêmica: a opção descolonial e o significado de identidade em política. Cadernos de Letras da UFF – Dossiê: Literatura, língua e identidade, n. 34, 2008, p. 287-324.
OCHOA GAUTIER, A. M. Aurality: listening and knowledge in nineteenth-century Colombia. Durham: Duke University Press, 2014.
OCHOA GAUTIER, A. M. O. Acoustic multinaturalism, the value of nature, and the nature of music in ecomusicology. Boundary 2, v. 43, n. 1, p. 107–141, 2016.
QUINTERO, M. B. Loudness, excess, power: a political liminology of a global city of the South. In: GAVIN, S.; SYKES, J. (eds.). Remapping sound studies. Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2019.
RUMMAGE, Mikaila. “Resonant Refusal: Gaza’s Signals of Survival.” Anthropology News website, June 13, 2025. Disponível em: https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/resonant-refusal-gazas-signals-of-survival/#citation. Acesso em 04 set. 2025.
SCHETTERT, Michel. José Luiz Sasso: A reconstituição do som de Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol. Rebeca - Revista Brasileira de Estudos de Cinema e Audiovisual, v. 14, n. 1, 10 jul. 2025.
SCHAFER, R. M. O ouvido pensante. São Paulo: Editora Unesp, 2012.
STEINGO, G.; SYKES, J. Remapping sound studies. Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2019.
STERNE, J. The sound studies reader. New York: Routledge, 2012.
THIES, Sebastian; GOUMEGOU, Susanne; CEBEY, Georgina (ORGS.). The Routledge handbook for Global South studies on subjectivities. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2024.
TROTTA, F. Annoying music in everyday life. In: ______. Alternate takes: critical responses to popular music. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020.
VENTURA, L. C. A trama dos sons: a invenção de um arquivo sonoro para o Nordeste (1910-1950). Teresina: Cancioneiro, 2022.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Beatriz Medeiros, Luiz Ribeiro Fonseca

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
A submissão de originais para Revista Culturas Midiáticas implica na transferência, pelos autores (as), dos direitos de publicação impressa e digital. Os direitos autorais para os artigos publicados são do autor (a), com direitos da Revista Culturas Midiáticas sobre a primeira publicação. Em virtude de sermos um periódico de acesso aberto, permite-se o uso gratuito dos artigos em aplicações educacionais, científicas, não comerciais, desde que citada a fonte (por favor, veja a Licença Creative Commons no rodapé desta página).



