Sound, space and power in a primary school

This paper presents some reflections on the role of sound in the exercise of power in school spaces, showing that the exercise of power through discipline and surveillance, whilst commonly thought of as taking place primarily through vision, may also rely heavily on sound and hearing. I use examples from ethnographic fieldwork in a primary school to illustrate the spatiality of sonic power. In so doing, I contribute both to the understanding of schools as spaces of institutional power, and to recent literature on geographies of sound and music.