Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer/Autumn 2018 | Page 5

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
broadly to “shape the field” (ibid.:8). But again, to integrate music in IR studies goes far
beyond the influence of metaphors for designing research and theories.
Walt does not see the genuine aural dimension of International Affairs. It is not a question
of presenting a theory with ordinary images that could make sense. The acoustic
turn has much bigger promises. What are they and how could they be achieved?
This acoustic turn results from the convergence of three independent movements. First,
musicologists not only explore the cultural movements of musicians and musical genres
across borders but also the role of music in political and conflictual contexts (O’Connell
and Castelo-Branco 2010). Historians have opened a new chapter of American Diplomacy
for decades based on a cultural turn that nowadays is extended to other countries.
This academic literature sheds light on transnational circulation of conductors,
composers, groups ... with and beyond Foreign policies of the States (Gienow-Hecht
2009, 2015). The last movement comes from IR where aesthetics have been integrated
in several research programs. Aesthetics not only operate as an “amplifier” (Bleiker
2009), they also open up “thinking space” (ibid. 2017). Music takes part in this agenda
by “resounding international relations” (Franklin 2005).
To study international relations as an acoustic fact has at least three academic consequences:
• To describe the aural aspect of International Relations as a continuum from sound
to silence. Thanks to the public diplomacy, leaders speak with their government
counterparts and also foreign audiences. But, the international arena has more
aural aspects than these official voices. Transnational actors and musicians per
se make their own voices heard, as Bono illustrates, for instance. This famous
rock-star joined the movement Jubilee 2000 for the debt cancellation at the end
of the 1990s. He set up his own nongovernmental organization dedicated to
development in Africa and has tried to influence political leaders�especially
the G7 members�for years concerning global economic issues. Besides, music
embodies a way to promote values abroad no matter who the actors in the
front line are: the ambassadors of Jazz created by the Department of State in
the United States aimed at promoting another image of the country during the
Cold War; the dissemination of Chinese operas like Rain of Flowers along the Silk
Road shows the diplomatic and cooperative role of China in Asia ; Dag Hammerskjöld
as Secretary-General of the United Nations yearned for new symbols
in IR and initiated the annual concerts in the General Assembly for suggesting
the idea of international harmony inspired by music of the spheres (Hammerskjöld
2005). Acoustic issues became part of international political issues, as
the recommendation of the Executive Council of UNESCO on good practices
concerning sounds illustrates in 2017 (UNESCO 2017). Analysts must not forget
that an acoustic dimension incorporates silence. To keep silent differs from
being dominated. Silence has an agency (Cooke and Dingli 2018; Dingli 2015)
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