Cultural transformations and mediations revealed through transgenerational sensobiographies

In their introductory chapter for Sensory Transformations, Järviluoma and Murray give an overall sense of the theoretical and methodological thinking underpinning the book. The chapter represents the polyphony of academic research ideas; the wealth of data in varying forms; and the intensity of the investigations, analysis and conceptual thinking of thirteen original research contributions of the publication. The writers of the publication aim to articulate a special moment in the sensory history of urban Europe, shaped through digital technologies. This chapter starts by briefly summing up the ways in which the theories and methods in the area of sound and other sensory studies have developed over the past few decades, then moving on to SENSOTRA project’s distinctive methodology. Transgenerational sensobiographic walking was crucial for all writers in gathering rich research material on sensory environmental relationships. It then moves on to summarize the research team’s chapters that have their own ‘takes’ on the methodology, which are structured into the three sections of the book: Transforming knowledge: methodological design; Transforming cultures: finding each Other in Time and Space; and Mediating transformations.