The Sound System of the State: Critical Listening as Performative Resistance

This chapter discusses the sonic methodology of critical listening as a means of interpreting these cues in their political context. This methodology can be used to reveal the ways in which sound operates as an ideological sphere. I will examine critical listening both as a method for analysing state sound systems and as a performative act of political resistance in its own right. The text draws on John L. Austin’s influential theory of speech acts, outlining the role of the listening agency in setting the conditions for the failure or success of illocutionary acts. Listening is then conceptualized as a means of resistance that can challenge or subvert the ideological signification of state- produced sounds. Building upon this performative role, critical listening is theorized as a method which broadens our understanding of how ideological sound systems can be challenged and resisted.