I found this article to reach out towards my own beliefs of senses and our hierarchy this modern western society holds towards sight. I was having a conversation with my mum about this, after my trip to the British sound library in the previous term. I found it disappointing that a sound library is so much less used and available than a literature library. Books are more valued than sound. To archive, sounds is a strange not usually heard thing to do. Film is archived as well, much more than sound. You can find pictures of a Dodo and most people have seen a photo of one. Now if you ask someone if they’ve ever heard a sound of a Dodo? Whole different story.
This excerpt does speak on the theory of why this is a thing. For optical and visual is highly prioritised in our western society, much more than audio. This in turn led to a larger research enquiry into creating visual products and machines. The advancement of cameras and cinema came before the audio. recording a photo came before the audio.
This excerpt also speaks on the differences in other societies and the value that the senses hold. For example in our western societies, we assume and believe that other senses are lesser than others. We see touch and taste as a more primitive sense than for example sight and touch.
to associate the ‘lower’ senses with the ‘lower’ races. As sight and, to a lesser extent, hearing were deemed to be the predominant senses of ‘civilized’ Westerners, smell, taste and touch were assumed to predominate among ‘primitive’ non-Westerners
I find this to be accurate, since colonisation. The western world has had an obsession with believing they are the superior race or society. It’s an interesting reflection of my own perception that I received growing up in Brazil. Most people actually associate western values as something horrible, being on our phones, our technological advancements and even the way we treat our family members is seen as an undesirable way of living.
I do believe this article brings up great points I hadn’t thought about before. I think this does deserve some deeper research, especially towards the essay that we have to hand in in the coming weeks. I think I want to enhance my previous audio document from the last term and see what I can extract and amplify that perhaps I didn’t or couldn’t fit in the ten-minute window.