The affective quality of sound: repositioning the listener

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibilities of performative research practices in the dissemination of social science research. The paper introduces the benefits of these practices and demonstrates the relational benefits of sound. The paper explores the possibility that sound may be used to reposition the listener to a new way of hearing.

This research emerged from a larger research project investigating the silent racism that was evident in an inclusive education program. A constructivist narrative approach was adopted to investigate the benefits of sharing the sensorial qualities of participant responses as an aural excerpt. The aim here is to reposition the listener from their own cultural value systems to being open to new understandings.

The paper highlights the relationship between the storyteller and the listener. Sharing a young man’s personal experience of racism enabled the visceral and affective quality of his deeply personal experience to be conveyed to the listener.

This paper reports on the experiences of one participant. It is not designed to represent the experiences of all young people with African heritage, but rather to present the possibilities of using sound in the dissemination of research findings.

The methodological approach of this paper offers a unique and valuable contribution to the growing interest in new avenues to disseminate research findings, particularly those that convey the deeply personal experience of participants.