Practices and Educational Affordances of Sound in the Postcolonial Hong Kong Protests

Abstract

Sound has been theorised for its functional role as informative agent in political advocacy and participation in political studies, yet the investigation on the pedagogical potential has been largely absent. This paper examines the pedagogical impact and educational affordances of sound through a case study of the political struggles in post-colonial Hong Kong. Among the series of large-scale disputes, the use of sound is multifaceted and has invited knowledge through different means including social media sonification, practices of sound as protesting tactics, and the alternative position, representation, facilitate understanding and learning of sound within the postcolonial framework. These sonic practices revealed the educational affordances of sound that goes beyond the conventional function to transfer knowledge and information, serving as a catalyst to sustain political resistance and make available the opportunity to learn through participatory studies and reflective practices. Within the postcolonial Hong Kong context, sound extends the political confrontation to the non-physical and affective space, where the listeners can afford to recognise and engage in the actualisation of sound. It also unfolded social discourses that characterised the postcoloniality of Hong Kong and revealed the evolving power relation among citizens and authorities.