By Elizabeth L. Sammons

In May, I visited Urban Arts Center to hear an exhibit. As someone blessed with an inherent love of art, but without the vision to appreciate it in traditional forms, my experience with museums and their artifacts is always mediated by others. Whether through casual dialogue with sighted friends, or in the more formal realm of audio description available from the exhibiters, my visit is worded with others’ impressions that I must accept in part on trust. Therefore, reading an announcement about Religious Soundscapes, I immediately decided to have a listen. After all, this in many ways would provide my first opportunity to explore an artistic endeavor on my own terms. Additionally, I was curious to find out how a museum would handle a show based not on what meets the eye, but what embraces the ear.

By David W. Stowe, Michigan State University

In the pre-pandemic version of my Music and Religion course, I assigned an observation paper based on a visit to a local faith community, a kind of entry-level ethnomusicology. Since this was no longer possible under COVID, I created an alternative assignment using the well-designed ARSP Mennonite Voices exhibit.

The original assignment required a five-page paper in two parts. The first part asked for details on the community and a precise description of what was seen and heard. Part two asked students to explain whether they heard what they expected, were surprised by anything, and reflect on how significant sound was in the event they witnessed. The revised assignment was as follows:

Religion is a complex and sometimes messy topic that shapes both individual lives and broader communities. The metadata we use to tag and organize information, however, requires simplicity, clarity, and uniformity. How can these two things that appear to function in different capacities work together? 

This summer and fall, the ARSP staff have been working on revising the materials we provide to coordinators at sites that are joining the project, including our manual of best practices. The manual covers everything from the project philosophy to recording technology to strategies for introducing undergraduates to ethnography via sound. Alongside that, we’ve also given a lot of thought to the ethical implications of our work. One practical ethical concern we’ve been thinking about lately is how to ensure that our students have productive, safe learning experiences in the field. In this blog post, ARSP Project Coordinator Alison Furlong and Graduate Project Manager Caroline Toy talk about keeping fieldworkers safe.

Alison: Obviously, there’s a difference between keeping students safe and becoming paranoid or over-protective.