/ Studies / Christopher Allen
The (un)Welcoming City: Sonic Psychogeography and Refugee’s Sense of Belonging in the Urban Everyday.
Christopher Allen | Master Thesis , 2023
This paper examines the role of sounds the urban environment and their affect on the refugee experience within the Swiss city of Basel. At this time the war in Ukraine is a constantly evolving situation and has caused high migration rates into the country of Switzerland. These refugees face numerous obstacles once they reach their host city, including their own personal sense of belonging and how a sudden change in urban environment effects this.
This project incorporates evidence from sound recordings, sound walking, sound mapping and personal experiences to demonstrate that the urban soundscape plays a major role in a refugee’s sense of belonging within the urban realm. It argues that sound is a key factor in whether or not refugees have a sense of belonging within their new urban surroundings. This includes providing refugees with their own agency in the ability to control their own sonic environment. Furthermore, the urban soundscape has a drastic affect on a refugee’s mental health, in both a negative and positive manner. This includes the ability to move around the city and the building of metaphorical borders.