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  3. ESC: Sonic Adventure in the Anthropocene

ESC: Sonic Adventure in the Anthropocene

Jacob Smith
Open Access Open Access
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ESC is a work of experimental audio-based scholarship combining sound studies, radio history, and environmental criticism. This unique project is a fully open access, fully digital suite of audiographic essays, presented as a ten-part podcast series, combining spoken commentary, clips from classic radio dramas, excerpts from films and television shows, news reports, and the work of contemporary sound artists. A brief written essay on the ESC website provides a helpful introduction and context for this project.

ESC takes as its point of departure the CBS Radio adventure series Escape (1947–54). The postwar years saw both a decline in popularity for American radio drama, and the dawn of the Anthropocene era, with human beings emerging as the primary force affecting the earth's systems.

Jacob Smith considers Escape's adventure stories from an ecocritical perspective, analyzing the geographic, sociopolitical, and ecological details of the stories to reveal how they are steeped in social and environmental history.

The work of contemporary sound artists and field recordists underscores the relevance of sound in these narratives and demonstrates audio's potential as a key medium for scholarship. ESC features recordings by some of the most prominent sound artists working in this area, including Daniel Blinkhorn, Peter Cusak, David Dunn, JLIAT, Christina Kubisch, Francisco López, Sally Ann McIntyre, Chris Watson, and Jana Winderen.

ESC makes the urgency of our critical ecological moment audible in a new way. The audio essays articulate what it means to live in an Anthropocene era and posit alternative ways of conceptualizing our historical moment. ESC sharpens our ability to listen and respond to our world with greater ecological awareness.

All publication resources for ESC, including the introductory essay, audio materials, and backmatter, are available on Fulcrum. The audio materials are also available on Apple Podcasts.
Open access availability of this work is made possible by generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Citable Link
Published: 2019
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-99901-9 (open access)
Subject
  • Digital Projects
  • Media Studies:New Media

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Document titled Introductory essay

Introductory essay

Introduction: ESC: Sonic Adventure in the Anthropocene

Audio File Icon

Episode One: Three Skeleton Key

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Two: Leiningen vs. the Ants

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Three: The Birds

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Four: Action and The Grove of Ashtaroth

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Five: Red Forest

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Six: Port Royal

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Seven: The Vanishing Lady

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Eight: Evening Primrose

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Nine: I Saw Myself Running

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

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Episode Ten: Earth Abides

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

Document titled Bibliography

Bibliography

ESC Bibliography

Document titled Links

Links

ESC: Additional Sources of Information

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