'Ichotopia tou travmatos: ichitiki via, akoustiki martyria ke i ithiki tis akroasis' [Soundscapes of Trauma: Sonic Violence, Acoustic Testimony and the Ethics of Listening]

Carceral sites are forms of institutional of power. Τhey are also sites of many struggles. In such settings music and sound can transform space, time, and the overall experience of detention either negatively or positively, or both. Tuning into the soundscapes of detention, turning ourselves into ear-witnesses to the extent that we can, allows us to see the workings of carceral power but also the dynamic of the sonic experience. This article explores the soundscapes of trauma in sites of detention during the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. It explores the use of music and sound as a means of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. At the same time, it investigates the ways in which detainees reclaimed music and sound as means of survival and solidarity, gaining agency. The article draws on archival research and on interviews with political prisoners and two soldiers of Greek Military Police. Emphasis is given on the discrepancies that mark trauma testimony. What do these discrepancies tell us about the sonic and auditory experience in sites of detention? How do we make sense of what survivors are actually avowing, and what kind of listening does the process of bearing witness call for? The article was written in the context of the ERC Consolidator Grant MUTE – Soundscapes of Trauma: Music, Sound, and the Ethics of Witnessing (n. 101002720), funded by the European Research Council in the context of Horizon 2020