I'm Bryce-
an anthropologist and semiotician at the University of Oregon
intersted in communicative approaches to visual and sonic cultural production.
My research explores the ways in which intersecting aesthetic mediums
(sound, music, poetry, art, and architecture) function within paradigms
of meaning, and how their intersection reveals a culture's ontological
relationships between bodies, objects, sounds, and landscapes. My
research focuses on Morocco, Gibraltar, Tunis, and Malta.
BrycePeake
about
I am a cultural and linguistic anthropologists interested in art and performance in the Mediterranean, and its relationship to sacredpower, ethnic identity, and cultural politics.After receiving my B.Mus. from the Eastern Illinois University School of Music inJazz Performance and Composition in 2008, I completed an MA degree from Brandeis University in Cultural Theory with a concentration in semiotic visual studies in 2009, and have most recently began Ph.D. work in anthropology at the University of Oregon. My broad intellectual project can be defined as a semiotic anthropological study of the body politics embedded in soundscapes- provisionally defined as the sum total of wave forms, present and/or imagined, in an environmental niche- through which the habitus and bodily disposition of both tourist and local are enacted and disciplined through the repetitive structuring of sound. I specifically focus on acoustic ecology as a type of urban architecture that allows for different conceptualizations of self and self-hood in Gibraltar, Morocco, Gozo, and Tunis. While my previous research approached the cultural politics of soundscap-ing identity through sound production in Malta, I am currently studying consumption of sound as an equally important element of a production/consumption dyad in the cultural production of identity through urban soundscapes: the interpretation of sound in the creation of self is equally as important as the production of new sounds in declaring ones space. By covering Gibraltar, Morocco, and Tunisia in addition to Malta, I am developing a post-Mediterraenanist study that highlights the Mediterranean as: a) a collapse between both East and West, as Michael Herzfeld has pointed out, as well as a collapse in North and South, and b) a fluid zone in which Africa is not simply opposed to Europe, but, rather, Europe is dialectically implicated, imprecated, and imbricated in, by, and through Africa.
I am a cultural and linguistic anthropologists
interested in art and performance in the
Mediterranean, and its relationship to sacred
power, ethnic identity, and cultural politics.
After receiving my B.Mus. from the
Eastern Illinois University School of Music in
Jazz Performance and Composition in 2008,
I completed an MA degree from Brandeis
University in Cultural Theory with a concentration in semiotic visual studies in 2009, and have most recently began Ph.D. work in anthropology at the University of Oregon. My broad intellectual project can be defined as a semiotic anthropological study of the body politics embedded in soundscapes- provisionally defined as the sum total of wave forms, present and/or imagined, in an environmental niche- through which the habitus and bodily disposition of both tourist and local are enacted and disciplined through the repetitive structuring of sound. I specifically focus on acoustic ecology as a type of urban architecture that allows for different conceptualizations of self and self-hood in Gibraltar, Morocco, Gozo, and Tunis. While my previous research approached the cultural politics of soundscap-ing identity through sound production in Malta, I am currently studying consumption of sound as an equally important element of a production/consumption dyad in the cultural production of identity through urban soundscapes: the interpretation of sound in the creation of self is equally as important as the production of new sounds in declaring ones space. By covering Gibraltar, Morocco, and Tunisia in addition to Malta, I am developing a post-Mediterraenanist study that highlights the Mediterranean as: a) a collapse between both East and West, as Michael Herzfeld has pointed out, as well as a collapse in North and South, and b) a fluid zone in which Africa is not simply opposed to Europe, but, rather, Europe is dialectically implicated, imprecated, and imbricated in, by, and through Africa.
cv
Born in Illinois, 1985• 2004-2008 studied 20th/21st century composition, jazz bass performance, and medieval musicology _ eastern illinois university (BMus). Major Paper: Towards a theory of visual ethnomusicology.• 2008-2009 studied cultural production, visual culture and museum theory _ brandeis university (MA). MA Thesis: The Social Imaginary and Social Imagination.ResearchMy research focuses on the experiential capacity of aesthetics and sound, and their effects in the composition and understanding of space and cultural landscapes in the Mediterranean. For my dissertation, I am conducting a comparative study of soundscapes and media ecologies in the continental contact zones of Gozo/Tunis and Gibraltar/Morocco. My intent is to address the ways in which colonial urban spaces and national narratives of place are interrupted and challenged through the use of sound by ethnic, class, and/or religious communities. It is my hope in this work to develop a semiotic approach to the sensory experiences of media in Mediterranean urban spaces so as to understand the ways in which (post) colonialism is entangled, interpreted, and sometimes dismissed from the sensoriums. Current Projects (finished, in process, and beginning)Some of my current projects include: the use of soundscapes in the construction of 'places of difference' in Gibraltar; aural iconography and the coding of authenticity in Maltese and Gozitan tourist-scapes; geography and alliance in Moroccan street performers; Gibraltarian street performers and the (re)inscription of identity in space; and the effects of soundscape on public art initiatives and interpretations.Applied WorkIn addition to being a progressive theoretical approach to the anthropology of space and urban semiotics, my research also contains an 'applied' capacity. Below are a few projects in which I've integrated my research on sound in 'public anthropology' settings. My Mind could Wander, My Hands were Busy: Creative Industry on the Charles River in Waltham, MA 1730-2009. (Multi-(cross)media Exhibit _ the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation. This video installation incorporated both live sound and produced sound in an attempt to juxtapose past, present, and future. It was based around the waterfall that started the industrial revolution. When we think of waterfalls (and their sound) they are somehow portals into the past while remaining present- the sound is time immemorial articulated in every now. Such is the nature of creative and industrial work on the charles river; at once labor intensive, but always including a level of craft in creating a spectrum of beautiful essences.Prospect Hills Community Center Improv Group. This was a project that I worked on in conjunction with Brandeis University's involvement in community-engaged learning. The purpose was to 'take back' the process of sound creation from professionals in order to give teens (and 'tweens') an outlet for collective expression. The goal (which, while fun attempting to reach, was never quite successful) was to give a community concert in a local park (the site of a mural project the previous year), so as to 'give voice' to the teens for reclaiming community space from private 'alternative' uses.Bryce Peake Media Consulting. I am currently working as a media consultant, primarily for educational institutions and museums at the moment. My interest in techno- and media- pedagogy was cultivated at Brandeis, where I spent the spring of 2009 working with professors to integrate social media into the classroom. My approach, different from other consultants, is ethnographically based- meaning that my approaches consider more the social applicability(and sustainability) of social and non-social media initiatives.
Born in Illinois, 1985
• 2004-2008 studied 20th/21st century composition, jazz bass performance, and medieval musicology _ eastern illinois university (BMus). Major Paper: Towards a theory of visual ethnomusicology.
• 2008-2009 studied cultural production, visual culture and museum theory _ brandeis university (MA). MA Thesis: The Social Imaginary and Social Imagination.
Research
My research focuses on the experiential capacity of aesthetics and sound, and their effects in the composition and understanding of space and cultural landscapes in the Mediterranean. For my dissertation, I am conducting a comparative study of soundscapes and media ecologies in the continental contact zones of Gozo/Tunis and Gibraltar/Morocco. My intent is to address the ways in which colonial urban spaces and national narratives of place are interrupted and challenged through the use of sound by ethnic, class, and/or religious communities. It is my hope in this work to develop a semiotic approach to the sensory experiences of media in Mediterranean urban spaces so as to understand the ways in which (post) colonialism is entangled, interpreted, and sometimes dismissed from the sensoriums.
Current Projects (finished, in process, and beginning)
Some of my current projects include: the use of soundscapes in the construction of 'places of difference' in Gibraltar; aural iconography and the coding of authenticity in Maltese and Gozitan tourist-scapes; geography and alliance in Moroccan street performers; Gibraltarian street performers and the (re)inscription of identity in space; and the effects of soundscape on public art initiatives and interpretations.
Applied Work
In addition to being a progressive theoretical approach to the anthropology of space and urban semiotics, my research also contains an 'applied' capacity. Below are a few projects in which I've integrated my research on sound in 'public anthropology' settings.
My Mind could Wander, My Hands were Busy: Creative Industry on the Charles River in Waltham, MA 1730-2009. (Multi-(cross)media Exhibit _ the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation. This video installation incorporated both live sound and produced sound in an attempt to juxtapose past, present, and future. It was based around the waterfall that started the industrial revolution. When we think of waterfalls (and their sound) they are somehow portals into the past while remaining present- the sound is time immemorial articulated in every now. Such is the nature of creative and industrial work on the charles river; at once labor intensive, but always including a level of craft in creating a spectrum of beautiful essences.
Prospect Hills Community Center Improv Group. This was a project that I worked on in conjunction with Brandeis University's involvement in community-engaged learning. The purpose was to 'take back' the process of sound creation from professionals in order to give teens (and 'tweens') an outlet for collective expression. The goal (which, while fun attempting to reach, was never quite successful) was to give a community concert in a local park (the site of a mural project the previous year), so as to 'give voice' to the teens for reclaiming community space from private 'alternative' uses.
Bryce Peake Media Consulting. I am currently working as a media consultant, primarily for educational institutions and museums at the moment. My interest in techno- and media- pedagogy was cultivated at Brandeis, where I spent the spring of 2009 working with professors to integrate social media into the classroom. My approach, different from other consultants, is ethnographically based- meaning that my approaches consider more the social applicability(and sustainability) of social and non-social media initiatives.
Themes of
Photography
contact
4885 Aster Street, Apt 172
Springfield, OR 97478
Tel: + 1 309 648 6706
twitter: brycepeake
email: brycepeake(a)gmail.com
LinkedIn
My Blog
