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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
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Sociedad de Etnomusicología
2006
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| Online Access: | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=82201011 |
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Table of Contents:
- Music as torture / Music as weapon Suzanne G. Cusick Arte One of the most startling aspects of musical culture in the post-Cold War UnitedStates is the systematic use of music as a weapon of war. First coming tomainstream attention in 1989, when US troops blared loud music in an effort toinduce Panamanian president Manuel Norriegas surrender, the use of acousticbombardment has become standard practice on the battlefields of Iraq, andspecifically musical bombardment has joined sensory deprivation and sexualhumiliation as among the non-lethal means by which prisoners from Abu Ghraibto Guantanamo may be coerced to yield their secrets without violating US law.The very idea that music could be an instrument of torture confronts us with anoveland disturbingperspective on contemporary musicality in the UnitedStates. What is it that we in the United States might know about ourselves bycontemplating this perspective? What does our governments use of music in thewar on terror tell us (and our antagonists) about ourselves?This paper is a first attempt to understand the military and cultural logics onwhich the contemporary use of music as a weapon in torture and war is based.After briefly tracing the development of acoustic weapons in the late 20thcentury, and their deployment at the second battle of Falluja in November, 2004,I summarize what can be known about the theory and practice of using music totorture detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo. I contemplate someaspects of late 20th-century musical culture in the civilian US that resonate withthe US security communitys conception of music as a weapon, and survey theway musical torture is discussed in the virtual world known as the blogosphere.Finally, I sketch some questions for further research and analysis. 2006 artículo científico 1697-0101 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=82201011 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=822 Trans. Revista Transcultural de Música application/pdf Sociedad de Etnomusicología Trans. Revista Transcultural de Música (España) Num.10