Overview
“Stories of Leaving and Belonging: Building Community through Listening”, introduced in 2025, is a part of Arts, Culture, and Storytelling pillar of The Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University. This public humanities project aims to emphasize the shared humanity and experience of migration by producing short multimedia stories about George Mason community’s experiences with leaving a place to enter some place new (e.g., country, city, neighborhood or school).
The theme in 2026-2027 academic year is "Sound".
Leaving and Belonging invites the George Mason community to become aware of the sounds in everyday life: the singing voices, prayers, street vendors, birdcalls, accents, traffic noise, or people gathered in bars. Each of these sounds provide us with a sense of place. Drawing from sound studies, oral history, and migration studies, participants are invited to explore how everyday sounds inform our experiences and carry memories across time and space, and connect us to the people around us. Our soundscape and its story can help us understand what it means to feel at home and to create a sense of belonging at the intersection of multiple cultures, languages, and histories.
Participants are encouraged to bring or identify a sound that matters to them, such as:
- a song
- a voice note
- a field recording
- a recurring everyday sound
- a sound recorded during a soundwalk
They will then be invited to choose one of the following prompts that resonates with them.
Interview Questions:
- Tell us about a sound that you associate with leaving a place you cared about. What was the sound? Where did you hear it? Why has it stayed with you?
- Tell us about a sound, voice, song, or everyday noise that helped you feel more welcome in a new place. What made that sound comforting or important?
- Is there a sound, song, recording, or voice you return to again and again?
When do you listen to it, and what does it do for you? - Is there a sound from another place, language, or time in your life that you miss? What do you miss about it, and what does its absence mean to you?
The story does not have to be dramatic or extraordinary. Often, small everyday details carry the deepest meaning. Do you have a story to share? We would love to hear from you! Please email Ezgi Benli-Garcia at ebenliga@gmu.edu or Aditi Goel at agoel6@gmu.edu.