Author Description

Based On Years Of Ethnographic Interviews With U.s. Military Service Members And Iraqi Civilians, As Well As On Direct Observations Of Wartime Iraq, Author J. Martin Daughtry Reveals How These Populations Learned To Extract Valuable Information From The Ambient Soundscape While Struggling With The Deleterious Effects That It Produced In Their Ears, Throughout Their Bodies, And In Their Psyches. Daughtry Examines The Dual-edged Nature Of Sound--its Potency As A Source Of Information And A Source Of Trauma--within A Sophisticated Conceptual Frame That Highlights The Affective Power Of Sound And The Vulnerability And Agency Of Individual Auditors. By Theorizing Violence Through The Prism Of Sound And Sound Through The Prism Of Violence, Daughtry Provides A Productive New Vantage Point For Examining These Strangely Conjoined Phenomena. Two Chapters Dedicated To Wartime Music In Iraqi And U.s. Military Contexts Show How Music Was Both An Important Instrument Of The Military Campaign And The Victim Of A Multitude Of Violent Acts Throughout The War.--from Publisher Description. Introduction: Composing Thoughts On Sound And Violence -- Fragment #1: The Presence Of Mind To Save An Ear: Ali's Story -- Section I: Sonic Materiel -- Belliphonic Sounds And Indoctrinated Ears: The Elements Of Wartime Audition -- Mapping Zones Of Wartime (in)audition -- Fragment #2: Stealth And Improvisation In The Desert: Jason's Story -- Fragment #3: Loudly Searching In The Resonant Darkness: The Anatomy Of A Nighttime House Raid -- Section Ii: Structures Of Listening, Sounding, And Emplacement -- Auditory Regimes -- Sonic Campaigns -- Acoustic Territories -- Fragment #4: A Fatal Mishearing -- Section Iii: Music, Mediation, And Survival -- Mobile Music In The Military -- Fragment #5: From Hell's Bells To Silent Night: A Conversation About Music In The Military -- Fragment #6: Keeping The Music Turned Down Low: Shymaa's Story -- A Time Of Troubles For Iraqi Music -- Conclusion -- Fragment #7: Listening As Poiesis: Tareq's Story. J. Martin Daughtry. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.