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Thamyris/Intersecting No. 18 (2007) 11–28
World War II (Lewy; Zimmerman). Other studies continue to focus on their marginalization,
with a view toward historical oppression, and their persistent discrimination after
the Cold War, as well as the disciplining, governmental structures that continue, despite
the political and economic restructuring that attended the overthrow of communism
(Barany).
Romani agency and attempts at self-determination, in their negotiations with governments
and larger, majority populations, are an understudied area. This has only
recently received academic attention where ethnic and political mobilizations have been
examined. 7 The articles in this volume add to the scant research on Roma attempts at
resistance and self-fashioning. Interventions in media and representations are examined
here. The ways in which Romani groups utilize the arts is discussed as well as the
dangers of national/state reappropriation of these cultural productions.
A recent trend in Islamic scholarship has been to examine women and their place
within Islam in various countries. Several approaches can be observed, including sociological
and anthropological studies on Islam and modernity that include problematizing
Western views on, and explorations of the politics behind headscarves, women’s roles
and education. There have also been controversial, liberal readings and interpretations
of the Qu’ran by women who critique patriarchal interpretations. 8 Closer to the research
on the understudied role of the acoustic and its relevance to Islam, are the studies dealing
with orality and Islam. There is an anthropological body of work on oral tribal poetry
that includes examinations of Arab, Islamic identities (Abu-Lughod; Caton). Recently, a
claim to the importance of orality to Islamic law and practices has been asserted
(Souaiaia), as well as an analysis of the timbre of the voice in relation to Islamic cultural
events (McPherson). Gender and orality, with regard to Islam, are, however, still seldomly
explored. This type of analysis is represented in Sonic Interventions by a discussion of
the interpellative force of recitation and prayer on religious identity formation.
Sound and Place
The study of sound and space/place has been given considerable attention as early
as the late 1970s. Murray Schafer’s groundbreaking work on the notion of “soundscape”
(Schafer) distinguished between the pre-industrial soundscape, in which
sounds were clearly audible (high-fi) and the modern soundscape, where individual
sounds were muffled (low-fi). According to Schafer, the conditions of the modern
soundscape were schizophrenic due to the split between original sounds and their
electro-acoustic reproduction. As Trevor Pinch and Karin Bijsterveld have pointed out,
Schafer’s pessimistic outlook has been countered by recent contributions to sound
studies that “offer a more optimistic view in which there is the possibility of control
over one’s sonic accompaniment to daily life.” 9 The introduction of radio, for example,
allowed the middle classes to enjoy their leisure time in the privacy of their own
homes, far away from the noise and agitation in public theatres (Douglas).
Sonic Interventions: An Introduction | 15