Atmospheric Knowledge

Overview & Synopsis

How do we know through atmospheres? How can being affected by an atmosphere give rise to knowledge? What role does somatic, nonverbal knowledge play in how we belong to places? Atmospheric Knowledge takes up these questions through detailed analyses of practices that generate atmospheres and in which knowledge emerges through visceral intermingling with atmospheres. From combined musicological and anthropological perspectives, Birgit Abels and Patrick Eisenlohr investigate atmospheres as a compelling alternative to better-known analytics of affect by way of performative and sonic practices across a range of ethnographic settings. With particular focus on oceanic relations and sonic affectedness, Atmospheric Knowledge centers the rich affordances of sonic connections for knowing our environments. “This episodic, experimental, and intellectually capacious book is an example of what contemporary anthropology and musicology do best.” — TIMOTHY COOPER, author of Moral Atmospheres “Atmospheres are everywhere—and yet they have been surprisingly under-researched until now. This wonderfully provocative book provides a foundational text for tomorrow’s theorists in fields like anthropology, environmental studies, music and sound studies, and critical geography.” — JIM SYKES, author of The Musical Gift “This book provides intellectual and analytical tools for future generations of scholars across a broad range of academic terrains.” — CAROLA LOREA, author of Folklore, Religion and the Songs of a Bengali Madman