The Listening Project: Conflict, Democracy & Listening Workshop
26 September 2008, Monash
Convenor: Mark Gibson (Monash)
It is difficult to conceive of democracy without a belief in the possibility of listening. But over the last twenty years, the theme of listening has increasingly been displaced by those of power and conflict. While the latter are often associated with the left, they have also been taken up by the right, resulting in interesting resonances between cultural studies analyses of 'discursive strategies' and conservative campaigns against political correctness. This workshop considers the prospects for restoring a place for listening in the wake of the culture wars. Has the displacement of listening been a temporary phenomenon or does it have structural roots? Are 'conflict' and 'listening' really mutually exclusive themes? What are the most promising sites for new models of listening? To what extent might they be generalised?
Mark Gibson is convenor of the Cultural Literacies Node of the ARC Cultural Research Network and of the Conflict, Democracy and Listening workshop. He is chair of the Graduate Communications and Media Studies Program at Monash University. Mark's most recent publication is Culture and Power - A History of Cultural Studies (2007), a study of theories and histories of the concept of power in cultural studies. He is also Editor of Continuum - Journal of Media and Cultural Studies.
