Short Abstract

We will explore sonic interventions as a creative form of critique towards producing socio-political transformations, featuring the musician-activist Mazin Satti and anthropologists Elizabeth Schierhold and Isabel Bredenbröker. Participants are invited to share more examples. Join us in song!

Long Abstract

Are current anthropological understandings of critique sufficient to meet current global challenges? How might critique contribute to creating social worlds? This lab explores the political potential of sonic-affective atmospheres. Sounds shape our very perception of reality. Music can transmit a sense of belonging—such as protest choruses among like-minded people (e.g. “No justice, no peace!”)—but it can also convey exclusion, like the “Ausländer raus” chant among Sylt partygoers. Just as acoustic harmonies can transmit a sense of connectedness, or of home, dissonances can also disrupt perceptions and destroy connections (Adorno 1973; Göpfert 2025). In this lab, we will experiment with sonic interventions as a form of transdisciplinary critique towards producing social and political transformations. The Sudanese musician-activist Mazin Satti will present a music video produced with sounds of an attack on Khartoum and a song about hope for peace. The anthropologist Elizabeth Schierhold will also introduce her “Sound-Box” – a device with recordings of immigrants’ “sounds of home”. Isabel Bredenbröker, whose sound experiments with anthropological collection items are “queering the museum”, will comment on these examples. Participants are invited to share further sonic interventions and to join us in song. We will ask:

-How can experiences of war and displacement – such as the war in Sudan – be shared with others? How are sound and collective memory related?

-What sonic-affective atmospheres does authoritarianism produce? How can these be disrupted by the strategic use of counter-sounds?

-What can critical anthropology offer beyond analytical deconstruction, through creative and socio-politically engaged sonic techniques?