Criminal Sounds–Primitive Sounds: Sensory Conflict and the Racialization of Urban Space in Cartagena (Colombia) and Madrid (Spain)

Abstract

This study reexamines how the racial construction of body/place is closely related to symbolic processes in the ordering of the sensory experiences of working‐class and poor neighborhoods. Specifically, it considers the role played by soundscapes in the aforementioned relationships within Andean communities in Madrid (Spain), and Palenquera communities in Cartagena (Colombia). The analytical framework of this article aims to rework the contributions of the sensory turn in sociology, so as to connect them with key categories taken from Critical Race Studies. To fulfill the aims of this work, a sensuous ethnography was carried out, including in‐depth interviews with inhabitants of working‐class and poor neighborhoods and activists from antiracist organizations. At the same time, the analysis was carried out into the cities’ local newspapers. The application of these conceptual frameworks and methodologies led to one main conclusion: sensory conflict related to sound in these cities is a fundamental manifestation of the racialization of space. The working‐class and poor neighborhoods of Cartagena and Madrid do not reproduce hegemonic urban sensory models but instead resist them on a daily basis.