An anthropologist underwater: Immersive soundscapes, submarine cyborgs, and transductive ethnography

In this article, I deliver a first-person anthropological report on a dive to the seafloor in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's three-person submersible, Alvin. I examine multiple meanings of immersion: as a descent into liquid, an absorption in activity, and the all-encompassing entry...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American ethnologist 2007-11, Vol.34 (4), p.621-641
Main Author: HELMREICH, STEFAN
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropologists
Anthropology
anthropology of science
anthropology of sound
Auditory perception
Crossings-Artistic, Aural, Digital
Cultural anthropology
Cultural studies
Cybernetics
cyborgs
Ethnography
Ethnology
Field of ethnology
Hearing
immersion
Robots
Sea
Sound
soundscapes
Sources and methods
Straits
Submarines
Water
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Summary:In this article, I deliver a first-person anthropological report on a dive to the seafloor in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's three-person submersible, Alvin. I examine multiple meanings of immersion: as a descent into liquid, an absorption in activity, and the all-encompassing entry of an anthropologist into a cultural medium. Tuning in to the rhythms of what I call the "submarine cyborg"-"doing anthropology in sound," as advocated by Steven Feld and Donald Brenneis (2004)-I show how interior and exterior soundscapes create a sense of immersion, and I argue that a transductive ethnography can make explicit the technical structures and social practices of sounding, hearing, and listening that support this sense of sonic presence.
ISSN:0094-0496
1548-1425
DOI:10.1525/ae.2007.34.4.621