Sense Experiences

This article provides an account of how sense experiences are drawn into processes of contest over the boundaries of citizenship and belonging. Based on ethnographic research in Istanbul and Ankara, it examines the ruptures of the 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey. Particular forms of listening emerged in Western urban centers, newly attuned to sounds of warfare commingled with Islamic melodic devotionals ordered by state officials. Unique and pronounced engagements with bodily liquids accompanied the handling and placement of the dead. The multi-sensory experiences of Muslim women municipal employees who wash and shroud the deceased elucidated the foundational roles of scent and body weight in constituting martyrdom. This article demonstrates how the body politic operates—with various forms of acquiescence and repudiation—through sound, smell, and touch.