What is Te Ase?
Te Ase (meaning "to hear from beneath" in Twi) is a three-year sonic research and development initiative that centres sound as knowledge. We create opportunities for women practitioners and researchers to explore how sound creates knowledge, focusing on transnational pathways between Africa, the Americas, Europe the UK.
VISION & RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
Co-directed by Chantel Akworkor Thompson (DēpART) and Carina Tenewaa Kanbi (Ɛdan), the research-led initiative is designed to explore sound as knowledge and infrastructure across African cities, diasporic sites, and transnational creative ecosystems. Anchored in Accra, Ghana, and disseminated globally, with strategic engagement in the UK, including Leicester and London, the project foregrounds sonic research as both a methodology and a tool for cultural, spatial, and social transformation.
Core Aims
Te Ase aims to:
Document and analyse sonic ecologies across African cities and diasporic contexts, foregrounding local knowledge systems and practices.
Investigate sound as knowledge, labour, and infrastructure, considering its ecological, social, and political dimensions.
Build sustainable, transnational networks for artists, researchers, and cultural practitioners, connecting African, diasporic, and UK-based communities.
Develop open-access, digital infrastructure to host research outputs, field recordings, annotated scores, publications, and multimedia resources.
Foster cross-sector application, linking sonic research to urban planning, environmental design, spatial justice, and creative industries innovation.