Speaker:
Dr. Valerie Hänsch, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München

Moderation:
N.N.

In cooperation with the NOMIS-Research Project "Traveling Forms"

In October 2021, the transitional government in Khartoum was overthrown by a military coup, seriously challenging the revolutionary movement and blocking the way to democratic elections. Since then weekly protest marches have continued to take place across the Sudanese capital Khartoum, resisting the military coup and demanding a civilian government. The chanted protest slogans and music-making play a central role in the marches. However, performances of chanting and shouting are frequently disturbed by violent actions of the security and military forces. The various sounds, slogans and counter-actions together constitute a distinct soundscape and acoustically shape the political space of the streets. Based on ethnographic research in Khartoum, this presentation explores the semiotic-material infrastructures of the street protests and the sounds of protests. Building on Birgit Meyers’ concept of “aesthetic formation” (2009), I focus on slogans, their sounds and rhythms as styles that bind people and values together. Slogans are not only understood in their semiotic content that circulates between different forms, e.g. chanted words or wall writings, but as a form of acoustic activism that stimulates sensory experiences and generates affective resonances between people. This talk is part of my current anthropological research project “Expressing the revolution: Aesthetic activism in the Sudan and the re-appropriation of the city”, in which I investigate creative and artistic practices in the Sudanese revolution.

Zoom-Link
Meeting-ID: 915 3170 7702

Contact: zkf@uni-konstanz.de