Guayaquil's Sonic Diary. The Burning of the Old Year as an Encounter of Imaginaries, Territory and Identity from the Sound Experience

Abstract

This article exposes the result of an investigation related to noise, the sound landscape, the environmental impact, and the identity, territorial and symbolic configuration during the burning of the old year in the city of Guayaquil (2018-2021). The article is divided into two sections: in the first, an approach is made to the notions of noise, ecoacoustics, territories and sound studies (Farina 2014, Farina and Gage 2017); In the second part, an exhibition is made based on the ethnographic work carried out. It is hypothesized that the expansion of sound is part of an identity and territorial reality that has been configured as an imaginary of social self-affirmation in the city. The methodology is qualitative and has been divided into two procedures: bibliographic review, according to the phases proposed by Reboratti and Castro (1999), and a qualitative study with a reflective approach. Field work, participant observation, open interviews, photographic documentation and noise level collection with sound level meters were carried out.