{"id":26511,"date":"2019-08-12T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a-desk.org\/?p=26511"},"modified":"2019-07-28T11:54:14","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T10:54:14","slug":"entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/silencio-de-fondo\/\">Anna Dot\u2019s short essay \u201cBackground Silence\u201d<\/a> articulates a politics of noise. Dot is listening for the noise that emerges in the censored expression, the interrupted passage, and the corrected error. For an exemplary practitioner, Dot\u2019s essay points to Chicana poet Gloria Anzald\u00faa whose \u201cBorderlands\/La Frontera\u201d (1989) foregrounds and explores from within the normalization of a standardized English the \u201cnoise\u201d of the Chicana accent.[1] Noise presents the concrete specificity of silence \u2013 of the silenced \u2013 capable of its own speech.<\/p>\n<p>Dot draws her central metaphor from Cage\u2019s 4\u201933\u201d and from cybernetics insofar as the two sources apparently challenge the possibility of pure silence. Full of acoustic nuances that accompany every expression, the communicational channel defies silence. That said, however, Dot appears from the beginning to be a little bored with the Cagean clich\u00e9: \u201cWe swallowed the idea that silence doesn\u2019t exist thanks to the story he told us.\u201d In fact, Cage\u2019s 4\u201933\u201d suggests a much more problematic picture than its conventional interpretation. The composition, which is championed as a liberatory embrace of noise as signal, makes no sense without the staging gesture of repression. That is to say, 4\u201933\u201d is not the same as leaving open the living room window or handing the listener a stethoscope. The piece must be staged as the negation of anticipated sound. By analogy, in engineering, the very condition of possibility of communication is the simultaneous deployment and repression of noise, that is, the carrier wave.<\/p>\n<p>If read precisely, Dot\u2019s is not a simple ethics or politics of liberatory difference. It is one that confronts the paradoxical and structural role of negation. Her essay closes: \u201cTo remain silent is a right. Personally, day by day I am less able to fill the silences of others with words of my own because I am deafened by the noises they contain.\u201d Silence exists as the force of the negative within noise. In a time when border walls are being planned to support transnational capital, the question to ask is not if there is noise in the clamoring silence at the border. Surely there is. The question is rather: Whose noise is it really? (That is, for whom is it \u201cnoise\u201d?) Clearly it is not the noise of the so-called noisy. In the end, the question is not simply a matter of liberating noise from silence but rather of liberating, at least conceptually, the silence from the noise. For we cannot hear noise without its determinative silence.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] Gloria Anzald\u00faa, <em>Borderlands\/La Frontera\u00a0<\/em>(San Francisco : Aunt Lute Books, 2012).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anna Dot\u2019s short essay \u201cBackground Silence\u201d articulates a politics of noise. Dot is listening for the noise that emerges in the censored expression, the interrupted passage, and the corrected error&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2635,"featured_media":26509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6008],"tags":[],"coauthors":[6584],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017) &#8211; A*Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017) &#8211; A*Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anna Dot\u2019s short essay \u201cBackground Silence\u201d articulates a politics of noise. Dot is listening for the noise that emerges in the censored expression, the interrupted passage, and the corrected error....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A*Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-12T05:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-28T10:54:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"546\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Freund\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Freund\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/\",\"name\":\"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017) &#8211; A*Desk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-12T05:00:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-28T10:54:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6ed2602a22d04ec9de5eadade3e9a67d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg\",\"width\":546,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Portada\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/\",\"name\":\"A*Desk\",\"description\":\"A*Desk Critical Thinking\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6ed2602a22d04ec9de5eadade3e9a67d\",\"name\":\"Peter Freund\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/764ac1daaa77d50b8a1a9b272bcac05e\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/422a2c2ba04ada102f21d0352f7971a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/422a2c2ba04ada102f21d0352f7971a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter Freund\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/autor\/peterfreund\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017) &#8211; A*Desk","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017) &#8211; A*Desk","og_description":"Anna Dot\u2019s short essay \u201cBackground Silence\u201d articulates a politics of noise. Dot is listening for the noise that emerges in the censored expression, the interrupted passage, and the corrected error....","og_url":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/","og_site_name":"A*Desk","article_published_time":"2019-08-12T05:00:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-28T10:54:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":546,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Peter Freund","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Freund","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/","url":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/","name":"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017) &#8211; A*Desk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-12T05:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-28T10:54:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6ed2602a22d04ec9de5eadade3e9a67d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_6422_copy_1_-546x400.jpg","width":546,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/entry-2-background-silence-by-anna-dot-sept-2017\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Entry #2: \u201cBackground Silence\u201d by Anna Dot (Sept 2017)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/","name":"A*Desk","description":"A*Desk Critical Thinking","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6ed2602a22d04ec9de5eadade3e9a67d","name":"Peter Freund","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/764ac1daaa77d50b8a1a9b272bcac05e","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/422a2c2ba04ada102f21d0352f7971a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/422a2c2ba04ada102f21d0352f7971a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter Freund"},"url":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/autor\/peterfreund\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26512,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26511\/revisions\/26512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26511"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=26511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}