Äänellisen toiminnan sosioteknisyydestä 2020-luvun arjessa

The study of human beings and their music has been the starting point of ethnomusicological research. The current study, too, is based on an ethnographic approach, which provides a rich framework for analysis. However, in the age of streaming, talking and listening technologies and artificial intelligence in the 2020s, sound culture has gained an even greater importance which exceeds the conventional ways of understanding the production and consumption of music. Consequently, the key question is what kind of concepts and approaches could contribute to the examination of sonic culture today.

In this article, I explore how the ontology of sound can be examined anew by applying the concept of assemblage, drawing from the new materialist approaches. I emphasize research perspectives used in the field of media theory, particularly in visual studies. These approaches partly overlap with the new materialist research in music studies, while also stressing the societal aspects characteristic of ethnomusicology. I propose that the concept of socio-technical systems could serve as a bridge between music studies and the examination of contemporary sonic infrastructure. I argue that this kind of research is essential during times marked by societal, social, and ecological brokenness.