Aya Shabu

This seed grant supports the creation of a prototype digital sonic archive of Black Durham. The project draws on sound and performance studies, public history, and digital humanities to interpret sound both as evidence and affect. lt uses Black orality and memory work to address the root shock and ongoing impact of urban renewal. Through oral history, group storytelling, and site-specific field recordings, youth and legacy residents will recover and document the history of displaced neighborhoods such as Brookstown and the Branch area of Hayti. Participants will work with project artists and scholars to create small-scale sonic vignettes that braid oral history with ambient sounds and speculative re-imaginings of the neighborhood’s future.