During the global COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam emerged as a remarkable case study in proactive public health governance, exemplifying an innovative and empirically effective approach to pandemic communication and control. Unlike many nations that relied primarily on digital media or traditional public health directives, Vietnam leveraged an intricate blend of sound-based technologies to manage the crisis. In her forthcoming book, Sonic Socialism: Crisis and Care in Pandemic Hanoi (University of California Press, 2025), Christina Schwenkel, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, conducts a detailed analysis of how the Vietnamese state deployed both venerable and contemporary sonic media to orchestrate an expansive public health response.
Central to Schwenkel’s thesis is the concept of “soundwork” and sensory autoethnography—methodologies that prioritize sound as a primary mode of social engagement and governance. Through these frameworks, Schwenkel unpacks how Vietnam’s dual reliance on cell phones and loudspeakers created a multifaceted communicative ecosystem. The Vietnamese government disseminated billions of text messages containing health advisories, restrictions, and educational information, a strategy befitting the country’s rapidly modernizing digital infrastructure. Yet it was the enduring presence of loudspeakers—an analog technology with deep rural and generational reach—that constituted a critical vector of information dissemination, particularly in areas where smartphone penetration was limited.
This bifurcated sonic strategy resulted in what Schwenkel describes as a “layered soundscape of governance,” a sophisticated intertwining of sound technologies transcending simple broadcast to form a textured auditory environment. Notably, the loudspeaker system’s resonance with cultural practices of collective listening, such as communal radio sessions or village film screenings, enhanced its acceptance and efficacy. This intersection of cultural familiarity and technological utility fostered a social cohesion that digital texts alone might not achieve. Consequently, sound emerged not merely as a conduit for information but as an active agent shaping citizens’ relational dynamics with the state and one another.
Vietnam’s sound-based pandemic interventions also underscore the unique sensory affordances of auditory media. Unlike visual communication, which demands focused attention and can exclude non-literate or visually impaired populations, sound permeates public and private spaces simultaneously, rendering it an inclusive and immersive medium. Schwenkel’s fieldwork during Hanoi’s lockdowns involved “soundwalks”—ethnographic explorations attuned to everyday auditory landscapes. These soundwalks revealed sites of “sonic dissent,” where illicit gatherings or construction noise breached official silence prematurely, thus offering insightful auditory cues to public compliance and resistance that visual surveillance might overlook.
The notion of sonic governance that Schwenkel develops elucidates how sound modalities—ranging from text message alerts to loudspeaker announcements and viral public health songs—function as mechanisms of behavioral regulation and collective responsibility. While sonic governance can encompass propaganda, in Vietnam it frequently manifested as pragmatic communication vital to survival. An exemplary case involved government-produced public health songs disseminated widely across media platforms, which not only propagated health norms domestically but achieved international visibility, even garnering attention on programs like Jimmy Kimmel Live. This global viral dissemination illustrates the capacity of sonic media to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers during crises.
Vietnam’s pandemic communication model also contrasts with emergency response strategies in other contexts, such as the United States, where decentralized and often fragmented approaches have impeded rapid mobilization. Schwenkel coins the term “disaster socialism” to describe Vietnam’s centralized infrastructure facilitating coordinated, rapid propagation of lifesaving information. This system leveraged the state’s capacity to mobilize existing sonic infrastructure efficiently, highlighting how political-economic organization influences not only resource allocation but also sensory modalities of public health information.
Post-pandemic reflections on the Vietnamese experience raise critical questions about the future role of these sonic infrastructures. Debates persist within Vietnam regarding whether to maintain or deactivate the ubiquitous loudspeakers, balancing their potential utility in future emergencies against concerns about noise pollution and obsolescence. Schwenkel emphasizes the importance of adaptable communication systems that combine technological agility with cultural trust, positioning such systems as vital components of resilient public health strategies. This pragmatism underscores broader theoretical implications for designing sensory public health interventions that correspond to diverse demographic and geographic realities.
Schwenkel’s ethnographic work extends beyond her monograph into pedagogical innovations. During her 2023–2024 Fulbright scholarship in Vietnam, she implemented curricula integrating sound as a central analytic lens—ranging from “medical listening” to historical auditory landscapes—at the National University in Ho Chi Minh City. This pedagogical praxis challenges conventional, visually centered epistemologies and fosters multisensory engagements with history and contemporary social dynamics. By cultivating auditory sensibilities among students, Schwenkel’s approach demonstrates how sensory methodologies can deepen critical understanding of health crises and governance.
The broader implications of Schwenkel’s research prompt a reevaluation of how sound functions in public and political life. Sound is a sensory modality that not only transmits data but also enacts social relations, enabling the state to cultivate mutual care, shared responsibility, and collective action through auditory experience. Vietnam’s sonic pandemic response serves as a potent exemplar for other societies grappling with the complex interrelations of technology, culture, and governance during crises. By centering sound, this research challenges dominant narratives that prioritize visual or textual communication, advocating for more inclusive, embodied, and culturally resonant modes of emergency management.
Ultimately, Sonic Socialism encourages readers to reconceptualize public health communication as an embodied, multisensory phenomenon. The COVID-19 pandemic, as Schwenkel reflects, unveiled the critical importance of rapid, clear communication forged through collective care, a process often initiated and sustained through sound. Vietnam’s sonic governance model offers a blueprint for how emergent technologies and historical practices can synergize to manage crises effectively, fostering solidarity and resilience in ways that transcend traditional state-society boundaries.
Subject of Research: Vietnam’s sonic media strategies for public health governance during the COVID-19 pandemic
Article Title: How Vietnam’s Sonic Socialism Transformed Pandemic Response: Sound as a Tool of Crisis and Care
News Publication Date: 2024
Web References:
- https://www.ucpress.edu/books/sonic-socialism/paper
- https://profiles.ucr.edu/app/home/profile/cschwenk
- https://anthropology.ucr.edu/
Image Credits: Stan Lim, UC Riverside
Keywords: COVID-19, Vietnam, sonic governance, public health communication, soundscape, anthropology, sensory autoethnography, loudspeakers, cell phones, pandemic response, disaster socialism, auditory media
