In On Site, In Sound Kirstie A. Dorr examines the spatiality of sound and the ways in which the sonic is bound up in perceptions and constructions of geographic space. Focusing on the hemispheric circulation of South American musical cultures, Dorr shows how sonic production and spatial formation are mutually constitutive, thereby pointing to how people can use music and sound to challenge and transform dominant conceptions and configurations of place. Whether tracing how the evolution of the Peruvian folk song "El Condor Pasa" redefined the boundaries between national/international and rural/urban, or how a pan-Latin American performance center in San Francisco provided a venue through which to challenge gentrification, Dorr highlights how South American musicians and activists created new and alternative networks of cultural exchange and geopolitical belonging throughout the hemisphere. In linking geography with musical sound, Dorr demonstrates that place is more than the location where sound is produced and circulated; it is a constructed and contested domain through which social actors exert political influence.

"Dorr’s intricately interwoven case studies offer important methodological and substantive insights for the study of Latin American music." - Ethnic and Racial Studies

"On Site, In Sound is a rare and invaluable book that brings into critical colloquy the fields of ethnomusicology, critical geography, ethnic studies, performance studies, and gender studies. . . . The book is a great read of undoubtedly great use for scholars in the aforementioned fields of study, or to any student who wants to learn about the spatially transformative powers of sound and music, or more about Peruvian culture in general, although a degree of familiarity with either Latin American cultural studies or critical geography is recommended." - Antipode

"Dorr explodes the discussion of sound’s emplacement across epochs and musical genres." - Sound Studies

"Dorr aims to make critical interventions into a number of cutting-edge academic discussions regarding race, gender, sexuality, nation, and diaspora. She does so with a remarkable cogency that demands and rewards multiple re-readings. ... When she [...] describe[s] the vocal sounds of Sumac, Wendy Sulca, Susana Baca, and others, she does so beautifully, and turns her readers into more deeply attuned listeners." - The Americas

"Dorr offers a profoundly compelling and layered analysis of this musical phenomena, and the narratives of space and power that operate beneath the act of artistic identification. ... Built from a solid theoretical framework and with creative uses of the archive, On Site, In Sound is an excellent contribution that will be helpful to Latin Americanists who work on performance studies, sound studies, cultural studies, and the intersections of space, ethnicity, and gender." - The Latin Americanist

"“Rigorously theorized, On Site, in Sound encourages interdisciplinary dialogues between ethnic, area, feminist, and queer studies; cultural, performance, and sound studies; and political and cultural geography. . . . Dorr’s analysis of Black women performing in Peru illuminate[s] how women use performative platforms to contest gendered restrictions on their participation in public discourse.”" - Latin American Research Review