Sound Knowledge and the Liminal explores liminality as a key feature of life in the Anthropocene. ? Especially relevant for scholars, it is also suitable for students and researchers in fields such as sound studies, cultural studies, political ecology, and Pacific studies.
Benjamin Duester is an ERC-fellow in the Department of Musicology at Georg August University of G?ttingen, Germany. He is a co-founder of the international research network SSHRED (Skating, Sustainability, Health Research, Environmental Design) for which he co-convenes the SSHRED Seminar series and serves as editor of the Green Pressure zine. He is the author of Tomorrow on Cassette: Tape Jams in the New Media Age (2025).
Introduction: Mjro, AelM?, Tawkn, Jikin Kwel?k 1. Etal Iene: Walking Between Islands 2. BMGMGMk: Ludic Appropriation and the Sonic Cocoon 3. Ainikien: Sounds Between Blue, Green and Grey 4. Lagoon Road: Concrete Waves and Liquid Sounds Conclusion
Sound Knowledge and the Liminal explores liminality as a key feature of life in the Anthropocene. Drawing on a 6-month research project conducted in Mjro, Marshall Islands, it not only contextualises existing continental literature on liminality with a Pacific-centred perspective but also proposes that sound functions as a principal pathway for understanding wellbeing in one of Micronesias most resilient and vibrant urban centres. Locating everyday life in Mjro as constantly shifting between the qualities of continental city and coral atoll, the book traces how the local community uses sound to gain wellbeing in liminal spaces. Synthesising theories on Anthropocene islands, sound knowledge, vibratory labour and the auditory bubble, it highlights ludic appropriation and sonic cocoons as central to the affordances of an urbanised atoll space.
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