The Shatila soundscape: Sound cultures, practices, and perceptions in a refugee camp in Lebanon

Abstract

This article discusses certain key questions about the history, memory, and dynamics of belonging in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon based on the sound culture of their inhabitants. What can the musical content, in particular, and the sound environment, in general, generated by the neighborhood, the birds, and the scooters circulating in the narrow alleys, tell us about life in one of those camps and about the daily lives of a national group placed on the margins of citizenship for over 70 years? Taking the example of the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, the following three dimensions of this sound culture are examined: the discourses on the community and its spaces in musical production (singing about the camp); sound practices inside the camp (sonorizing the camp); and finally, the description of the camp and its surroundings by its residents through sound journeys (listening to the camp). The analysis is first based on the content of songs in order to describe what music expresses about life in the refugee camps. It then moves on to examine the ordinary sound practices which contribute to the unique character of Shatila and its surrounding areas, such as the commercial district of Sabra. Third, perceptions of the spaces by the residents are described using the method of sound journeys (using the “Mics in the ears” procedure). Finally, it turns out that sound practices give the refugee camp—which over time has turned into a poor cosmopolitan district—a specific identity, and they contribute to establishing a familiarity with the spaces while nonetheless creating boundaries between the groups. These practices fulfill the needs of all the inhabitants to act in and upon the space where they live, this urban margin where they have been “confined” for a long time.