Soundscape Studies on Stolen Land: How Soundscape Ecology Utilizes Indigenous Knowledge and Affects Indigenous Communities on the Virginia Coast

This project aims to explore how soundscape studies are conducted on Indigenous land and how Indigenous knowledge is utilized and effected by such research. Through observing soundscape ecologists in the field at the Virginia Coast Reserve, I will engage in conversations on sound recording as an extractive process while simultaneously acknowledging the positive change apparent in eco acoustic studies. By working directly with sound ecologists, scientists, composers, and Indigenous scholars, I will see both Indigenous and non- Indigenous methods of scientific studies on climate change that will help inform my own research into soundscape ecology, colonial methods of preservation, and Indigenous knowledge and presence in global pursuits of ecological scientific research.