To Ring or Not to Ring: What COVID-19 Taught Us about Religious Heritage Soundscapes in the Community

Abstract

Despite church bell ringing being directly influenced by purposive human action, often as a liturgical function, it creates a community soundscape with ascribed heritage values. While general heritage management processes and decisions are informed by heritage professionals with a broader range of experience, we find that church bell ringing is contrary to this process. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how a stochastic disruptive event can dramatically alter soundscapes on a community-wide scale. Here, the effective power over bell ringing often rested with the individual clergy at the local level and is subject to that individual’s personal preferences. This has serious implications to non-traditional forms of heritage, such as intangible sounds and soundscapes. In realizing the value of sound signals and soundmarks, we highlight the need to formally recognize these sounds of religious settings and consider them in heritage frameworks.

Memories of COVID-19: The Types of Fitted Face Masks Between Public Health Advice and Personal Choice

“…Elsewhere, it had been argued that COVID-19 is global, cross-sectoral disruptor not seen since the 1918/19 influenza pandemic. As part of a project to document the tangible evidence and material culture associated with the COVID-19 pandemic for future social history exhibitions and heritage studies [18][19][20][21][22][23], the author systematically documented the Disclaimer/Publisher's Note: The statements, opinions, and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions, or products referred to in the content.…”