Slaps and the City: Mixing Sound and Space in Oakland’s Black Geographies

In this talk, I explore the work that is accomplished by centering engagement with Black dance music in urban studies and vice versa. Combining my training as an urban geographer with my practice as a DJ, I argue that mixing insights from urban, sound, and Black studies allows us to appreciate three key aspects of sonic politics in Oakland. First, the political importance of Black dance music extends beyond its symbolic expression or even sonic experience. Rather, it comes to exist through brick-and-mortar struggles over urban space in particular places. Second, while treated as trivial or invisible, Black dance music and everyday sonic practices are material forces that shape seemingly more “concrete” aspects of urban political economies and environments. And third, repetition - or non-linear “looping” - is central to not only the repression of Oakland’s Black geographies, but also the musical and movement practices through which Black residents reclaim space and resist dispossession.

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Speaker: Alex Werth, Consultant