Listening otherwise: attuning to the caring-chaos of a refugee and asylum drop-in service

Abstract

This article argues for the need to develop a politics of listening attuned to the sonic environments of caring encounters. Drawing on a sonic ethnography conducted with a refugee and asylum seeker community centre in Greater Manchester, this article explores the ‘affective economies’ of listening and how everyday caring encounters come to be imbued with state affects while still holding the potential to challenge such power structures. This article articulates a politics of listening otherwise attuned to the sensuous intensities of the everyday. Sound is a visceral phenomenon, and our listening responses are always unpredictable; what creates a sense of coherence or solidarity between some could provoke feelings of unease in others, and therefore, can be equally felt as a disruptive noise. To elucidate an ordinary politics of listening, this article draws on semi-structured conversations with refugee and asylum seeker friends and attendees of the drop-in, discussions with those who work and volunteer and a narrative vignette drawn from a sonic ethnographic listening diary and field recordings.