Electrosonic statecraft

Abstract

ABSTRACTOn a radio show operated by Morocco's National Broadcasting Service, listeners call in to recite the Qur’ān on air and receive critical commentary on their performance from the show's hosts. The show, called Learn Recitation of the Qur’ān, is linked politically and discursively to Morocco's broader “recitational revival” (ṣaḥwa tajwīdīyya) and to its concerns with a distinct “Moroccan” variant of Qur’ānic recitational practice. The show's on‐air pedagogical encounter is ultimately mediated by a confluence of technologies, built space, and discursive authority in the “backstage” space of the radio station's studio—producing what I call electrosonic statecraft. Yet this form of statecraft is ultimately caught between guiding the individual pedagogical progress of its subjects and expanding its community of reciters. This forces subjects to endure forms of “latency,” meaning technological interruptions or participatory deferrals that delay their pedagogical progress, rendering a “perfect” recitation, and perhaps the state itself, seemingly imminent yet always just beyond reach. [radio, media, sound, technology, statecraft, Qur’ān, Islam, Morocco]