[ecrea] cfp: The Politics of Listening

* CALL FOR PAPERS:  The Politics of Listening*

29 – 30 November 2018, Sydney

Convened by Tanja Dreher (UNSW) and Poppy de Souza (Griffith University)

Invited speakers: Leah Bassel (University of Leicester) and others to be 
confirmed

*Abstracts due: 30 June*

Inspired by the recent ‘turn to listening’ in media studies, cultural 
studies and political theory, this two-day interdisciplinary symposium 
brings together scholars whose work engages with listening: as a 
political practice; as a critical frame; as an alternative politics; as 
a contribution to justice and/or as an ethics of relation.

As recent calls for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to 
the Australian Parliament remind us, the ‘right to be heard’ and calls 
to listen are central to addressing ongoing injustice and inequalities. 
 The digital media environment offers proliferating opportunities for 
‘voice’ and sharing stories, yet the attention economy works against the 
promise that previously marginalised voices will be heard. While 
politicians regularly embark on ‘listening tours’, public trust in 
processes of consultation and representation is minimal. The fundamental 
principle of disability activism – ‘nothing about us without us’ – 
demands that voices of disability be heard. Yet too often calls to 
listen are ignored or refused.

Responding to these timely concerns, we invite critical contributions 
that engage with the politics of listening across a range of contexts 
and issues.  We particularly welcome papers and panel proposals that 
address:

  * *Critical theories of listening:* including theorising beyond
    liberalism, listening as a feminist politics, listening and agency,
    listening as labour, listening and justice (media justice, climate
    justice, acoustic justice etc), rethinking eavesdropping
  * *Listening and settler colonialism: *including First Nations voice
    and the right to be heard, Indigenous sovereignties, First Nations
    epistemologies of listening, listening and refusal, listening and
    decolonising methodologies, listening as solidarity
  * *Listening and the politics of difference: *including racism and
    anti-racism, ableism and disability, multiculturalism, counter and
    activist listening
  * *Listening interventions:* in art and activism, media, democracy,
    the politics of voice and representation, economies of attention

Pushing beyond liberal celebrations of voice and speech, attention to 
listening has foregrounded a commitment to responsibility, 
responsiveness, vulnerability and openness.  Critical scholarship in 
this area has done important work to shift responsibility for change 
from marginalised voices onto the institutions, practices and norms that 
condition who is heard, on whose terms, and to what effect.  Scholars 
also draw attention to the difficult work of listening, its potential to 
unsettle, and its crucial role in disrupting the uneven flows of power 
and privilege invested in unjust social and political arrangements. This 
symposium will foreground the politics of listening as a vital 
intervention in contemporary scholarship, activism and practice.

In addition to academic paper and panel proposals, we are interested in 
hearing from practitioners, activists and artists interested in 
proposing non-traditional forms or formats that respond to the above 
themes. Please get in touch with symposium conveners Tanja Dreher on 
(t.dreher /at/ unsw.edu.au) <mailto:(t.dreher /at/ unsw.edu.au)> or Poppy de Souza on 
(poppy.desouza /at/ griffith.edu.au) <mailto:(poppy.desouza /at/ griffith.edu.au)> 
prior to the submission date to discuss.

Leah Bassel (University of Leicester) is confirmed as a featured 
speaker. Her most recent book is /The Politics of Listening: 
Possibilities and challenges of democratic life /(Palgrave, 2017).  
Further invited speakers will be announced on the symposium website 
https://www.politicsoflistening2018.com/

For individual papers, please submit a 250 word abstract and short bio 
(150 words).  For panel proposals (3-4 papers), please also include the 
title of the panel and a brief description, along with paper abstracts.

*Please submit paper and panel proposals by 30 June via the symposium 
website: *https://www.politicsoflistening2018.com/submit*.*

About the convenors:

*Dr Tanja Dreher* is an ARC Future Fellow, UNSW Scientia Fellow and 
Associate Professor in Media at the University of New South Wales. Her 
research focuses on the politics of listening in the context of media 
and multiculturalism, Indigenous sovereignties, feminisms and 
anti-racism. Tanja’s current research project focuses on the politics of 
listening in response to community and activist media.

*Dr Poppy de Souza* is an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Griffith 
Centre for Social and Cultural Research at Griffith University. 
Her scholarship critically engages with the ethics and politics of voice 
and listening in the context of changing media technologies, 
everyday cultural production, representational politics and political 
transformation, with a focus on sites of struggle, resistance 
and innovation.

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