Call for Abstracts: Edited Volume on The Politics of the Soundtrack
Call for Abstracts: Edited Volume on The Politics of the Soundtrack
Editors: K. J. Donnelly (University of Southampton, UK), Jady Jiang (Wenzhou University of Technology, China), and Ling Zhang (SUNY Purchase College, US)
The term ‘soundtrack’ typically refers to the audio components of a film, television program, video game, short video, or other audiovisual media formats, including music, dialogue, and sound effects. However, the boundaries between these elements are often fluid, with the term frequently evoking a specific association with music. Once regarded an accompaniment to the image, the soundtrack has become a more holistic concept, both as an integrated part of the audiovisual experience and as an independent entity in its own right. The emergence of the soundtrack album in the mid-twentieth century transformed sound from being inherently associated with visual contexts into an autonomous form with its own musical character and cultural afterlife.
Traditionally, soundtracks have been under-theorized and undervalued in film and media studies. While significant scholarship now exists on music and sound in film, the political dimensions of soundtracks, especially their role in ideological expression and emotional anchoring, remain insufficiently explored. Most soundtrack analyses treat sound primarily as a formal or narrational device, often overlooking its deeper political and ideological implications. Notably, the advent of synchronized recorded sound in cinema initially sparked a wave of reflection on the politics of the soundtrack, particularly among Soviet film makers. The seminal 1928 ‘Statement on Sound’ by Eisenstein, Pudovkin and Alexandrov (1988) articulates their critical perspective. Yet, their concern about sound did not sustain into later theory.
The politics of the soundtrack lies in its capacity to subtly shape audience experiences and expectations, often reinforcing the ideological frameworks that define our perceptions of reality and acceptability. Situated at the intersection of perception, ideology, and audiovisual media, sound functions as an emotional affect, a cultural artifact, and a potent political force—one that encapsulates social values while influencing how audiences interpret the world and their place within it. By exploring these intersections, this book aims to unveil the layers of power embedded in the soundtrack, illuminating its critical role in the mechanisms of the culture industry. Nonetheless, the relationship between the soundtrack and its audience is not one-directional; it is dynamic and interactive, creating a reciprocal exchange that continually reshapes its meaning and impact.
Our volume seeks to investigate how the politics of soundtracks operates across multiple levels. At the macro level, soundtracks engage with grand ideological narratives—political parties, institutionalized beliefs, social hierarchies, and systemic power structures such as colonialism and anti-colonialism, socialism, internationalism, fascism, and religious fundamentalism. At the micro level, they permeate the intimate, everyday experiences of listening and perceived sound, shaping individual and communal engagements with sound and the mediated world it evokes. Though more elusive, the micro level is deeply pervasive, embedded in the mundane and subtly infused with ideology. These levels are not discrete but mutually constitutive. While scholars and journalist often prioritize the overt dynamics of the macro level, how might we reveal the intricate, nuanced politics of the micro as expressed through soundtracks across different audiovisual media? How, then, do we understand the individual as both inherently political and deeply enmeshed in the communal?
We invite submission of imaginative and original chapter proposals on topics that may include but are not limited to the following. To explore the politics of soundtracks on a macrocosmic and international scale, we particularly welcome contributions with a global and transcultural perspective, rather than focusing solely on the dominant narratives of North American and European audiovisual culture:
● How do soundtracks convey and bear ideological weight?
● How do technological developments influence or disrupt the politics of soundtracks?
● How do the political dimensions of soundtracks interact with aesthetic innovations?
● The role of censorship in shaping media soundtracks
● How do the meanings of soundtracks vary across different cultural contexts?
● The political manipulation of emotion through soundtracks
● How do individuals, as political beings, engage with mediated sounds?
● How do soundtracks simultaneously shape and reflect the sociopolitical contexts they inhabit?
● The significance of forgotten or ignored soundtracks in film and media history
● Soundtrack albums and other audio recordings
● Soundtracks as anti-colonial or radical archives
● Soundtracks as a medium of solidarity in the Global South
● Soundtracks and labor
● Soundtracks of capitalism
● Soundtracks as expressions of indigenous cultural sovereignty and heritage
● Soundtracks and the politics of everyday life and lived space
● Soundtracks and the politics of trans-sensory experiences (such as the visual, haptic, and olfactory)
● Soundtracks in relation to class, race, gender, and sexuality in underrepresented cultural, historical, and political contexts
● Soundtracks and wars, conflicts, social movements, environmental and climate crises
● The role of video games and short-video media (such as TikToks) in fueling contemporary political sentiments
We plan to propose this edited volume to a leading academic publisher. All submissions must be based on original research and should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Deadlines for submission
Please send your title, institutional affiliation, abstract (of no more than 500 words), and short bio to st.politics2025@gmail.com by February 1st, 2025. The editorial team will notify selected proposals by February 30th. We will be aiming for a submission deadline for the first draft (between 7000 and 8000 words) on October 1st, 2025.