Forschungskolloquium

European noises: the variable ontologies of sonic disruption and the politics of comparison

09 juillet | 10h00

»European noise: reflections on the politics of comparison in STS«
In 2002, the EU introduced an Environmental Noise Directive (END) that mandates member states to monitor environmental noise in urban agglomerations, as well as to develop concrete action plans. Notably, the new guideline does not introduce ‘common criteria’, ‘common indicators’, ‘common assessment methods’ and thus of a ‘common understanding’ of what environmental noise is, but only a mathematical formula to calculate environmental noise average indexes. By describing how environmental noise is currently being measured and tackled in three European cities, I will argue that, rather than leading to so-called ‘harmonization’, the END has led to cacophony in European noise politics. This result, I will note, cannot by accurately explained in terms of the principle of ‘epistemic subsidiarity’, as heterogeneous enactments of environmental noise reveal its fundamental ontological indeterminacy. Taking this into account, I will conclude with some reflections about the politics of comparing, and thus making simultaneously commensurate and incommensurate, indeterminate objects such as noise.

Referent: Ignacio de Farias

Contact

Benedict Vischer
benedict.vischer  ( at )  gmail.com

Lieu

Georg-Simmel-Saal
Friedrichstraße 191

10117
Berlin
Deutschland