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The goal of this paper is to highlight gendered, racial, and colonial politics of landscape photography by examining intersections of patriarchy, Orientalism/colonialism, and representation in its history and current practice. Landscape photography appears on or in screensaver backgrounds, TV commercials, cover art for apps or music, marketing campaigns, posters, textbooks, waiting rooms, corporate offices, hotel rooms, departmental promotional materials, study abroad brochures, among other materials in commercial, public, and private spaces. Despite its proliferation, the field's practice and roots are rarely addressed. In academia, scholars have separately examined both photographic and environmental discourse as tools of patriarchy and colonialism. As a former professional photographer-turned-academic and woman of South Asian descent, I draw from both my professional and academic perspectives to contribute to and bridge this dialogue. Through examination and analysis of historical and current representation, I demonstrate that landscape photography discourse perpetuates colonial practice and propagates gendered and racial stereotypes. More specifically, I highlight some of the ways that popular landscape photography in the West promotes white, Western colonialism and excludes narratives of women and people of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sound is very much a part of identity. While identities are neither singular nor stable, they can be expressed through sound in daily life. Scholars have used soundscapes in geography to understand urban environments within cities, rural national park systems, and provide musical insights into cultural landscapes. However, furthering discussion on the role of sound in identity can move concepts of soundscape and cultural landscape forward. The goal of this paper is to investigate how identity and culture, though they are dynamic, can be performed and stabilized through sound in particular moments and yet also exist banally. Soundscapes through both spoken language and music can give geographers further insights on identity and place. Sound can also show how non-dominant identities distinguish themselves from larger national identities. With research in Tamil Nadu, India and Cleveland, OH, this paper examines sound’s role in identity, belonging, and community through lived experience and performance. Focusing on intersections and tensions between soundscapes, this paper investigates how the Tamil soundscape is used to assert and perform identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]