Hip Hop as Linguistic and Sensory Contact Zones: Sounds and Rhythms of Vietnamese Rap and Dance in Munich and Hanoi

In this article, I draw on multi‐sited and remote ethnography in the cities of Munich in Germany and Hanoi in Vietnam to analyze how young hip hop artists transform cities as sensory contact zones through rap and dance. I show how young Vietnamese‐Germans amplify sensory contact zones in the diasporic city of Munich through the sounds, visuals, and wordplay of Viet rap. In the rap track “Viet World Wide,” three rappers negotiate their dual modes of belonging and their “diasporic citizenship” while performing in the city where they live. I examine the sensations and affective resonances produced by dancing together in the cipher, a circular dance formation that is characteristic of diverse hip hop dance styles, such as breaking, popping, locking, waacking, or hip hop dance. By joining in and dancing together, young women in Hanoi generate feelings of joy and safety in an otherwise anonymous urban environment. By examining the city through the lens of sensory contact zones, I show how sounds and rhythms affect and animate urbanites' sense of place and belonging in the city.