About

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The Sound Studies Institute (SSI) at the University of Alberta supports research and creative activities that centralize sound in any way. SSI offers researchers opportunities to work collaboratively, discover new areas of convergent enquiry, and benefit from collective administrative support. We provide a physical and philosophical locus for sharing, exploring, and celebrating collaboration and innovation across disciplines.

As stewards of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection of Folkways Records, SSI promotes the creation, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge about of music and culture through research, archival, and performance projects. We collaborate annually with the Northern Lights Folk Club through their Winter Roots Roundup event, including our co-produced Women of Folkways concert event.

SSI is also home to a variety of research projects and affiliates, with projects that span numerous areas of inquiry, from bioacoustics and linguistics, to audio culture and the sonics arts, to name a few. We also offer outreach events including an annual lecture series, workshops on sound tech

History

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SSI’s home is near the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River in the heart of Edmonton, Alberta, which is on Treaty Six territory. Treaty Six is the framework that establishes the terms for sharing this place now, the agreement that locates both traditional and new cultural practices here. We are grateful also to be in the traditional territory of the Papaschase Cree First Nation, where Métis and other First Nations have sojourned and found welcome.

The cultural roots of these communities are deep, growing over thousands of years as successive newcomers to this area shared their cultural traditions. This location has particular resonance for sound studies researchers as they seek to create new forms of sonic expression and explore innovative approaches to historical and contemporary sonic environments.