Hearing Harlan (with beginner's ears)
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
I documented my first visit to Appalachia – Harlan County, KY – in sound. I followed water through the mountains, danced with cloggers, and captured the daily rumblings of the coal train. I wanted to listen to the relationship between the people and their land. I heard personal and collective stories about the region’s past, and also about efforts towards new kinds of economic development and a locally-determined future. And I realized that I was hearing people try to articulate what was rich about their land: struggling to define what is valued, and by whom, and who it belongs to. With my recordings I tried to document both that struggle and the material reality of the resources themselves, from the rushing mountain streams fed by sudden thunderstorms to the low drone of mining equipment. The result is an unconventional audio documentary that combines environmental sound, music, and the voices of some of the people that I met. It is the product of beginner’s ears: ears that were open and curious, and didn’t know what they would hear.
Hearing Harlan (with beginner's ears)
Corbly Hall 467
I documented my first visit to Appalachia – Harlan County, KY – in sound. I followed water through the mountains, danced with cloggers, and captured the daily rumblings of the coal train. I wanted to listen to the relationship between the people and their land. I heard personal and collective stories about the region’s past, and also about efforts towards new kinds of economic development and a locally-determined future. And I realized that I was hearing people try to articulate what was rich about their land: struggling to define what is valued, and by whom, and who it belongs to. With my recordings I tried to document both that struggle and the material reality of the resources themselves, from the rushing mountain streams fed by sudden thunderstorms to the low drone of mining equipment. The result is an unconventional audio documentary that combines environmental sound, music, and the voices of some of the people that I met. It is the product of beginner’s ears: ears that were open and curious, and didn’t know what they would hear.
