© 2020 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/CISO.12304
City & Society
The Muslim Call to Prayer in Canada’s Pandemic Soundscape
Diane Riskedahl
University of Toronto Scarborough
In what some Canadians are hailing as a historic moment, for the first time the Muslim
call to prayer, adhan, has been publicly broadcast from mosques in many urban centers
throughout Canada during the holy month of Ramadan this year. This occurred at a time when
reports from cities around the world abound with commentary on the eerie quiet that has
descended on their usually raucous streets due to lock-downs and closures in response to the
Covid-19 pandemic. This transformed environment, somewhat ironically, has led to increases in
noise complaints as individuals are at home more and find themselves recalibrating expectations
for their surroundings. It is argued that physical isolation has heightened our noise sensitivities as
social distancing impacts the experienced relationship between individuals and their
environments (Bui and Badger 2020). This tampering with priorities of senses has brought sound
to the forefront of our daily lives and provides an opportunity to think about links between
auditory sensory perception and our physical and social environment brought together in the
notion of soundscapes.