“Queer Sonic Fingerprint”—Listening to speculative queer relations in ethnographic collections

Abstract

Queer Sonic Fingerprint is the multimodal result of a collaboration between anthropologist Isabel Bredenbröker and sound artist Adam Pultz Melbye. Our work embarked from the question of how the sonic as a register of making and experiencing can inform queer relations in the context of ethnographic collections.

All work in ethnographic collections was informed by conversations with curators about the ethical appropriateness of engaging with artifacts. This included considerations of indigenous intellectual property, sacred functions, and cultural belonging statuses of artifacts. We have chosen to engage with artifacts where no conflict of interest could be identified to the best of our own and the curator's knowledge. We are aware that this knowledge may not be comprehensive.