The acoustemology of Hong Kong in protest: a sonic understanding of the anti-extradition law amendment bill movement

This paper attempts to construct a sonic understanding of the recent past of Hong Kong in protest. By utilizing and extending Steven Feld's framework of acoustemology, I examine the sonic events during protests and identify sounds in the cultural system understood among the inhabitants. I conducted a digital archival search of newspaper articles and created a dataset of the events sounding 'Glory to Hong Kong' during the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. I explore three aspects: the participants, the space where the protest activities took place, and the sound generated and/or sounded in the activities. By demonstrating the interrelationality of them, I argue that sounds are able to reveal and (re-)claim spaces, establish a relationship between humans and space, bring an understanding of Hong Kong, and construct 'Hong Kong,' via collective sounding in protests and daily activities across time. This is the acoustemology of Hong Kong in protest.