Counter-carceral acoustemologies: Sound, permeability and feminist protest at the prison boundary

This article provides an analysis of sonic protest strategies used by anti-carceral feminist coalitions in Melbourne, Australia. Our research demonstrates that sound is a particularly powerful boundary-crosser that can challenge the exclusionary spatial ordering of the prison. Under certain politica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theoretical criminology 2020-05, Vol.24 (2), p.296-313
Main Authors: Russell, Emma K, Carlton, Bree
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coalitions
Criminology
Demonstrations & protests
Feminism
Music
Noise
Prisons
Radio
Resistance
Rhythm
Technology
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Summary:This article provides an analysis of sonic protest strategies used by anti-carceral feminist coalitions in Melbourne, Australia. Our research demonstrates that sound is a particularly powerful boundary-crosser that can challenge the exclusionary spatial ordering of the prison. Under certain political and geographical conditions, the carceral soundscape, which increasingly restricts ‘who gets to hear what’, can be temporarily breached, altered and re-made by protest noise, rhythm and music, and radio technology. Counter-carceral acoustemologies create alternative ‘soundtracks’ of resistance that both reveal and momentarily displace carceral-spatial control, re-patterning the aural environment of the prison. Such breaches can be countered, however, by various modes of boundary fortification over time. We propose that a more nuanced understanding of carceral space and soundscapes—as relational and in flux—provides greater opportunities for denaturalizing the prison and challenging its seeming permanence in our political and cultural landscapes.
ISSN:1362-4806
1461-7439
DOI:10.1177/1362480618769862