Overview

In the last century, long before ecomusicology was a definable field of study, ecological thought and environmental consciousness inspired some research and study in this area. It wasn't until the deepening environmental crisis of the 21st century-global warming, climate change, accelerated habitat loss, species extinctions, and dire warnings about the future-that those efforts and others coalesced into the new field of ecomusicology. Sounds, Ecologies, Musics is a pioneering book wherein authors pose exciting challenges and provide fresh opportunities for scholars, scientists, environmental activists, and musicians to consider music and sound from ecological standpoints. Part I examines the natural environment and how music and sound are woven into it, how the environment enables music and sound, and how music and sound in turn impact the environment-sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. In Part II, authors consider music and sound in relation to ecological knowledges that stand apart from, or are marginal to, Western science: traditional ecological and environmental knowledges, and Indigenous ecological and environmental knowledges. Finally, Part III features multidisciplinary collaborations among scholars, scientists, and practitioners from different academic fields and by individual scholars who work interdisciplinarily. Enlarging the field of ecomusicology, these theoretical and practical case studies expand the reach of sonic, scholarly, and political activism from the diversity-equity-inclusion agenda of social justice to embrace an even more diverse and inclusive agenda of ecocentric ecojustice.