The enchantment of the wild a journey into wildness through listening

Abstract

This research originates in three interrelated themes: the detachment from nature, the disenchantment of the world and the ocularcentrism of our culture. With regards to detachment from nature, we live in paradoxical times: on the one hand, we are deeply entangled with nature by the resources that sustain us and through scientific and technological developments, and on the other hand, we still hold onto an idea of nature as pristine wilderness that we seek to protect and escape to. This bifurcated meaning of nature implicitly conveys an instrumental view of nature and a residual rationalist tradition where the rational human is regarded as superior to the non-human. In parallel to the detachment from nature that intensified during the scientific revolution and onset of capitalism at the end of the Renaissance period, the world underwent progressive disenchantment, as everything was knowable through reason. The primacy of rational thought is therefore at the heart of detachment from nature and the disenchantment of our lives and is heightened by modern ocularcentrism that facilitates our abstraction from the world. In this research, I propose that our detachment from nature does not stem from a lack of access to it, but rather, from a set of cultural values that prevent us from engaging with the wildness that we live entangled with. I aim to cultivate moments of enchantment with the wild as a vehicle to reconnect with nature and expand beyond its rational apprehension. To that end, I connect to the literal meaning of enchantment as mesmerizing through chants or sound and work with listening as a creative research method. Aim and method are developed into two strands that are carried out throughout the research and developed through the four initial chapters of this work: journey to enchantment, and enchantment and beyond. In Journey to Enchantment, wildness and enchantment are sought in a spontaneous urban wildness and a remote wildness. Through the methodology of the soundwalk, walking whilst listening attentively, I develop a deep engagement with the environment that gives rise to several temporary installations and a practical guide to sound for landscape architects. In Enchantment and Beyond, I revisit key moments of enchantment to develop a phenomenology of enchantment that builds on Merleau-Ponty’s notions of flesh and wild being. Enchantment, I propose, unveils a connection with the environment that exposes an inner wildness: uncontrollable moments of extreme sensing where the experiences of time and individual self are suspended in favour of a sense of anonymity and correspondence with one’s surroundings. I conclude that the wild that we have lost a connection with is within us, and that sound can be a vehicle for reaching it. Drawing on key components of Val Plumwood’s ecological self and Jane Bennett’s vital materialism I argue that the power of the wild being stems from exposing our commonality with the others. Coming out of enchantment, coming into our personal and rational selves, we develop a care for the other that stems from having sensed our common essence that enables us to shape our values and actions accordingly.