Covid-19 and sonic governmentality
Can we hear the virus speak
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3839147 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Qian Zhang (0009-0004-3866-2007, Communication University of China), Y F Chow (0000-0001-6743-8339, Hong Kong Baptist University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 325-345 |
| Publication date | 2021-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | China Information (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0920-203X • E-ISSN: 1741-590X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0920203x211009417 |
| OpenAlex | W3159132042 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 33 |
A virus is not only invisible; it is also inaudible. Alongside attempts to visualize COVID-19, this article inserts a sonic perspective to listen to encounters between authorities and populations during the pandemic in China. The article examines how sound (mal)functions to mediate, interpellate, and distribute authority and power in the name of national health and safety. We will concentrate on the use of sirens and loudspeakers. First, at 10 a.m. on 4 April 2020, sirens were sounded throughout the nation to mark an official National Day of Mourning (全民哀悼日). Second, to reach places not readily accessible by more modern means of communication, rural leaders resorted to loudspeakers to announce virus-related messages to offline populations. Our curiosity about the sonic element was piqued. At the same time, we were reminded of ocularcentrism - the tendency or the bias to place the visual at the centre of inquiry. We argue for the need to engage with sonic practices and politics, and to foreground sound as a tool of governmentality. We want to document how certain instances of sonic governmentality played out in China during the pandemic. Finally, this inquiry should help us explore possible avenues for future research on sound and politics
Acoustics · Art · China · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Curiosity · Governmentality · Media studies · Pandemic · Panopticon · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Sound (geography · Visual arts · Law · Multisensory perception and integration · Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology
The Rite of Passage and Digital Mourning in Fang Fang’s Wuhan Diary
Sound art and attentive listening to nature in Hong Kong
Practices and Educational Affordances of Sound in the Postcolonial Hong Kong Protests
Creating platformized acoustic milieus
Playful, coded, and emotional language
Walking, the body, and the pandemic
Sensing the pandemic
A dissonant lockdown of a post-danwei neighborhood in a third-tier city
Noise
The Sound Studies Reader
The weirdest people in the world?
Discipline and Punish
Revolutionary Echoes
The Subject and Power
China's Digital Nationalism
Convergence Culture
Sound in urban public space
Mic Check
Criticising Surveillance and Surveillance Critique
Social media and moral panics
Clap for carers? From care gratitude to care justice
Surveillance technicity
Radio via mobile phones
Like a Knife
China with a Cut
Imagined communities
Contagious
The Rise of Hermeneutics and the Crisis of Ocularcentrism
On the Threshold of the Political
Governmentality and Spatial Strategies
The culture of surveillance
Afropolitan Detroit
The Ethics of Listening
They attacked the city
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |