Sensory landscapes of drylands and grasslands are changing. The sounds of wind, plants, water, and animals are drowned out or replaced by sounds of machines and new infrastructure. Smells of animals, dung, dust, rains and wind are replaced by smells of exhaust and pesticides. Open views are blocked by buildings, roads, dams, mines and fences. Quiet moments become rare as more sounds are added to the soundscape. While different extractivist projects and altered land use significantly change sensoriality for humans and animals, those aspects of changes are not much discussed in the scientific and developmental discourses.
To tackle this gap we are looking for contributions that reflect on the changing of sound/vison/touch-scapes in everyday sensory experiences of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, in particular when initiated by different kinds of extractivist projects. Our purpose is to grasp the qualitative aspects of sensory change.
Both empirical and conceptual contributions are welcome. Questions are: How do different actors and social groups perceive the influence of transforming sense-scapes? Can they be brought together in order to reflect on desired and undesired changes of future sensory realities? Which changes are considered as positive experiences and which as harming? What are the contradictions and ambiguities in relation to other desired changes? Should sensory change be part of future oriented considerations and projects for pastoralists’ livelihoods? How sensory aspects relate to debates in pastoralism and development (e.g. climate change, resilience, knowledge to work with the nature…)?
We are interested in presentations with different methodological approaches: e.g. interviews and discussions with of pastoralists, method design for sensory studies, soundwalks, audiovisual participatory approaches, ontological, technical and phenomenological approaches, sensory anthropology and other experimental approaches. We invite a range of examples from locations across the globe discussing sensory change of the environment within pastoralists’ livelihoods.
