The Necropolitics of Silence: Sound, Protest, and State Power in Colombia (2019-2021)

Juan Fernando Velasquez returns to Wesley W. Posvar Hall on Thursday, October 22, for a lecture titled The Necropolitics of Silence: Sound, Protest, and State Power in Colombia (2019-2021). It's a homecoming of sorts: Velasquez earned his PhD in Musicology right here at the University of Pittsburgh, and he's now an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Houston.

The talk centers on Colombia's Paro Nacional (National Strike) from 2019 to 2021, a period when sound and music became central to political protest. He looks at two specific moments: the 2019 Cacerolazo Nacional, when banging pots and pans spread across the country as a spontaneous form of dissent, and the 2021 Cacerolazos Sinfónicos, when orchestral musicians brought their instruments into public demonstrations. It's a look at how something as simple as a pot and pan, or as formal as a symphony, can be turned into a political tool.

From there, Velasquez takes the conversation into more theoretical territory. He builds on Achille Mbembe's concept of necropolitics—the way states decide who lives and who dies—and extends it to what he calls a "necropolitics of silence": the ways states render certain voices and experiences inaudible. It's a heavy line of thought, but one that ties the noise of the streets directly to the silence the state tries to impose.

This isn't his first foray into the music of the region. His first book, Los Ecos de la Villa (2011), won a research grant from Medellín's Secretary of Culture. The lecture starts at 1 PM in Room 4130 of Posvar Hall, 230 S Bouquet St. Registration is required, and lunch will be served.