Queen’s hosts British Academy Lecture in Social Anthropology about ‘Hearing Heat’

Queen's hosts British Academy Lecture in Social Anthropology about 'Hearing Heat'

Queen's recently hosted the British Academy's prestigious Radcliffe-Brown Lecture in Social Anthropology entitled Hearing Heat: An anthropology of sound for the Anthropocene, exploring how sound can help us navigate a warming wo

The guest lecture at Queen's was delivered by distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of New Mexico, Professor Steven Feld FBA.

His academic work concerns the anthropology of sound and acoustemology. Recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1991, Professor Feld also received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 2003. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994, and of the British Academy in 2024.

Drawing on research into sound, place and environmental knowledge, Professor Feld explored how cicadas (large insects with over 3,000 known species worldwide) can act as acoustic indicators of rising temperatures and environmental change. As natural markers of planetary heat, cicadas carry a deep archive of traditional ecological knowledge, mythology, literature, and art.

Professor Feld said: "What a thrill to deliver the British Academy Radcliffe-Brown Lecture at Queen's University Belfast, where John Blacking established such a remarkable and enduring programme in the anthropology of music and sound. In his great book title John asked: How Musical Is Man? And my lecture echoed him to ask: How musical is humanity's history of listening to companion species cicadas?"

The Q&A session was chaired by Professor Fiona Magowan MRIA from the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics and the Queen's Institute for Peace, Security and Justice.

Professor Magowan commented: "We are greatly honoured to have Professor Steven Feld deliver the prestigious Radcliffe-Brown Lecture in Social Anthropology at Queen's University Belfast reflecting the importance of the University's partnership with the British Academy. This outstanding lecture revealed the critical significance of understanding sound through histories of listening to the environment in an increasingly warming world."

Professor Deborah James FBA, from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Chair of the Anthropology and Geography Section of the British Academy, was in attendance.

Professor James said: "Professor Feld's work was formative for me in my earlier research in music (what John Blacking, founder of the Queen's Anthropology Department, called 'humanly produced sound'). It was thrilling to hear his insights on sound produced by non-humans but still made socially meaningful through myths and rituals. And so, it was apposite that this lecture should be delivered here, at the birthplace of ethnomusicology in the UK."

This autumn lecture was established by the British Academy and the Association of Social Anthropologists, and named after the Association's first President, A R Radcliffe-Brown FBA. The lecture was first delivered in 1972.

The British Academy's lecture series are delivered by leading academics from the UK and beyond, and showcases excellence of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/

Media

Media enquiries to Zara McBrearty on email: [email protected]

Share