Reverberations: The Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Politics of Noise

A publication emerging out of a successful international conference I co-organised on noise in 2010. The first of two volumes, this one focuses on noise as an aesthetic, political and cultural concept, and a range of noise practices beyond purely sonic ones, such as audiovisual noise and noise in communication theory. It argues that noise is fundamental to contemporary communication practices and facilitates a reversal of perspective in how these practices can be understood

Reflections on conducting research on the ‘war on terror’: religious identity, subjectivity and emotions

In recent years there has been an increase in literature which has explored the insider/outsider position through ethnic identities. However, there remains a neglect of religious identities, even though it could be argued that religious identities have become increasingly important through being prominent in international issues such as the ‘war on terror’ and the Middle East conflict. Through drawing on the concept of subjectivity, I reflect on research I conducted on the impact of the ‘war on terror’ on British Muslims. I explore the space between the insider/outsider position demonstrating how my various subjectivities – the ‘non-Islamic appearance I’, the ‘Muslim I’, the ‘personal I’, the ‘exploring I’, the ‘Kashmiri I’ or the ‘Pakistani I’, the ‘status I’ and the ‘outsider I’ – assisted in establishing trust, openness and commonality. I conclude by demonstrating how the ‘emotional I’ allowed me to manage my own emotions and participants emotions.