Schizophonia & Schismogenesis (pt II): Schismogenesis

-An image of Bateson & Mead painted by a Balinese artist-

Feld's borrows the term Schismogenesis from the Anthropologist & Cyberneticist Gregory Bateson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schismogenesis) in an attempt to described the generative/productive process that is often illicited through initial schism or dislocation. Feld's usage pertains to world music specifically, but given his contrast of the term with Schafer's Schizophonia it nevertheless falls well within the scope of this inquiry. 


The specific relevance here in, is the use of these two terms to explain the shift from the schizophonic effect - as embodied in the majority of sound-map recordings... to the schismogenic effect illustrated in the work of Westerkamp who works creatively with dislocation & difference to suggest something more (detailed below - http://wellingtonsoundmap.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/soundwalk-pt-ii-hildegard-westerkamp.html). These two modalities effectively can either be understood as two distinct responses to the inherent schism produced through recording a sound environment or (possibly) more usefully one could look at productive schismogenesis as being the next step or extension of schizophonia, where as Labelle details in his article; "place paradoxically comes to life by being somewhat alien, other, and separate, removed and dislocated, rather than being thoroughy mimetically real." (1)


1) Labelle, Brandon, Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art, Continuum, New York, NY, 2006, pg 206