PUBLIC TALK: Hell Sounds, Birdsongs and Zeppelins: Emotions, Memory and the Soundscape of the Great War

The 2015 Fred Alexander Lecture by Joy Damousi, Professor of History and ARC Laureate Fellow, University of Melbourne.

This lecture considers the ways in which the sounds of the battlefield and the home front during the Great War defined the memory of the war and elicited a range of emotional responses.

This general theme will be extended to discussing responses by civilians to air raids and bombings, which engendered desperation and trauma, crucially through distinctive sounds. Through an analysis of the experience of sound we can enable a broader, uncharted understanding of a cultural history of the emotional experience of civilians and combatants, and their memories during the Great War and beyond it.

This lecture is being held in conjunction with the War and Emotions Symposium, presented by the ARC Centre of Excellence for History of Emotion, the Centre for WA History and the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, and is part of UWANZACAugust, The University of Western Australia's ANZAC Centenary commemorations coordinated by the Cultural Precinct through its WINTERarts program.

Cost: Free but RSVP required via the webpage.