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Paper short abstract:

Where complex border settings cannot be depicted, sound becomes a way of feeling and seeing. This contribution proposes the listening of an audio track composed of different border-sound-scapes recorded along different borders between Southern Europe and West Africa.

Paper long abstract:

Sonic methods have not been systematically employed in the study of contemporary borders in spite of the advantages in bringing to the fore individual perspectives and experiences. Where complex border settings cannot be depicted, sound becomes a way of feeling and seeing.

This contribution proposes the listening of an audio track composed of different border-sound-scapes recorded along the borders of Spain-Morocco; Morocco-Guerguerat Strip (Western Sahara)-Mauritania; and Mauritania-Senegal. These recordings took place as part of a research and film project on the movement of “routiers” — routiers being men of African origin that regularly drive decades-old vehicles from Southern Europe to West Africa, carrying a set of second-hand items which are sold, traded, and/or bartered along the way.