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The suppression of public dissent in Iran has catalysed alternative forms of resistance, most notably Nocturnal Rooftop Slogan Chanting (NRSC). This study explores NRSC as an urban phenomenon, illuminating its role in reshaping nightscapes under an authoritarian regime. How can politically disenfranchised citizens reclaim urban spaces and assert their voices under oppressive conditions? It is argued that NRSC creates alternative sonic geographies, challenging conventional narratives of nightscapes and expanding spaces of dissent. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical observations, this study includes a thematic analysis of 158 videos of NRSC from 2021 to 2023 and provides insights into the characteristics and content of these protests. The findings reveal that NRSC fosters communal identities and challenges state control through the creation of dispersed, anonymous, yet interconnected acts of sonic occupation. It thus transforms urban nights into platforms for collective expression and symbolic resistance. The study also demonstrates that NRSC's effectiveness lies in its ability to leverage the urban nightscape, particularly the vertical dimension of rooftops, to create a pervasive soundscape of dissent. It invites further research into the role of sensory experiences in shaping political landscapes and suggests a re-evaluation of urban nights as crucial spaces of identity formation and resistance.
Rana Dadpour (Thu,) studied this question.