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Lukas Pairon presents the work of the international research platform SIMM on the possible social impacts of music-making at the conference ‘Soundscapes of Detention’, co-organised by the Department of Social Anthropology (Panteion University, Athens), the Laboratory of Anthropological Research (Panteion University, Athens), the Athens Conservatoire, and SIMM (Brussels).

Music has been intrinsically linked with repression, punishment, and warfare, as well as therapy and survival in situations of detention, war, and conflict zones. Music torture and sonic weapons are only a few examples that are by no means limited to contemporary times. At the same time, there is a growing scholarship on the beneficial effects of music in war and/or detention (e.g. prisons, refugee camps, immigration centres), showing how it can bridge ethnic/social differences, encouraging community building. Soundscapes of Trauma explores negative and positive uses of music and sound in detention, incarceration, and warfare across historical periods. Resolutely interdisciplinary, its programme consists of papers from across disciplines, including musicology, ethnomusicology, history, trauma studies, social anthropology, and music therapy. It also aims to forge a much needed intersectoral dialogue between academics, researchers, artists, and practitioners working with survivors or detainees in prisons, refugee camps, and immigration centres.