Sonic Space-Making on the Margins of Power: Electronic Music, Agency, and Alternative Belonging in the Republic of Macedonia (2011–2014)

This article examines the space-making practices of an electronic music scene in Skopje, Macedonia, between 2011 and 2014. It argues that such practices can make spaces for “alternative belonging,” enabling individuals and groups to diverge from the powerful without open resistance. The article builds on ethnomusicological literature on how space is mediated by music and sound in ways that are generative and transformative, suggesting that understanding agency as distributed across numerous positionalities assists in thinking beyond dichotomous dominance-resistance frameworks.