Disguised as a Recorder

This essay reflects on a collaborative project between ERC MUTE and the Melissa Network of Migrant Women in Athens, focusing on sound, music, and podcasting. Through the concepts of silent leaking, porous authorship and wet attunement, the author employs an intimate, autoethnographic language to discuss listening, documenting and researching as ethical practices requiring empathy and openness to diverse ways of understanding and storytelling. Disguised as a human(ish) recording device, the author poses questions regarding positionality, agency and authority issues. Finally, by examining the conjunction of sonic and temporal space in relation to knowledge production, the essay acknowledges the challenges of working with fragmented and evolving narratives and advocates for a slowed-down, reflective approach that values the process of listening and engagement.