The editors of this excellent new volume invite scholars of Latin America and the Caribbean into the emergent field of sound studies. Sound is not so much an object of study, this book implies, as an opportunity to deepen the texture of historical analysis in an impressive number of ways. In their definition of the topic, the editors include “sound-scapes, music, noise, and silence” (p. x), a breadth all the more imperative given (they point out) the disproportionate celebration of Latin America and the Caribbean for its music. Thanks to this fine framing as well as the quality of the individual pieces, the insights far exceed the particulars of region; these essays deserve to be read by anyone curious about the epistemological payoff of thinking about sound.
The volume’s opening chapter listens to the voices of speakers and singers recorded in popular music...
