Toward an Updated Ethnographic Questionnaire on Israeli Time
Sala-Manca
As part of the processes of researching the connection between ethnography and contemporary art (some of which was presented in “The Ethnographic Department” exhibit in the Museum of the Contemporary at the Mamuta Center in Hansen House in 2014), we have composed a questionnaire on the Israeli sound regime.
Similar to a Pavlov experiment, the regime in Israel has succeeded in shaping unique local behavioral patterns, distinguishing between membership groups, evoking emotions, and even creating a new local tradition—all by means of sound.
The place of sound as a central means for the individual’s equilibrium is known to all. The social use of sound as a means for shaping and control is the result of new technologies developed in the past century, and draws inspiration from older traditions of using sound for social policing during military or religious ceremonies.
In the present issue of the online art magazine Maarav (What does Public Space do?), we have chosen to distribute the ethnographic questionnaire on “Israeli Time”. Our questionnaire expands or updates the ethnographic questionnaire composed by Sh. An-sky in Eastern Europe a hundred years ago during an ethnographic expedition financed by Baron Günzburg. Members of the expedition headed by An-sky composed a questionnaire comprising 2087 questions pertaining to the life of Jews from birth to death, special customs, local traditions, the cycle of the Jewish year, and more. The expedition’s work was terminated with the outbreak of World War I on 28 July 1914.
The following questions expand the questionnaire with ethnographic questions associated with the Israeli sound regime, and we ask readers to become information scientists and provide their testimony in order to expand our understanding of sound policing.
To complete the questionnaire, visit the following link:
To the project's page:
http://maarav.org.il/english/2016/05/02/toward-an-updated-ethnographic-questionnaire-on-israeli-time-sala-manca-group/
