RHN 52/2023 | Forum
Organisers: Lehrstuhl für Europäische Ethnologie / Empirische Kulturwissenschaft, Universität Würzburg
2 May 2023, 6:15 p.m., online
Vortragsreihe: Hingehört! Der Sound des Anthropozäns
Deep Listening and Democracy: Political Listening to Fellow Citizens and Other Beings
Eva Meijer
In philosophy and politics, there is a strong emphasis on speaking at the cost of listening, and language at the cost of silence. Speaking and language are in the western tradition furthermore seen as human capacities, and denied to other animals, plants and nature, effectively silencing them in our knowledge systems and political realities. Many of the ecological problems all beings are currently facing are connected to anthropocentrism, as a world view that disconnects humans from the rest of the living world, and as a mode of being in which humans use others for their own profit. Challenging anthropocentrism asks for developing a new attitude as humans. We cannot do this alone: we need to learn to engage differently with the other living beings with whom we share the planet, and centre their perspectives in working towards a different future. First and foremost for their sake, but also for ours. Finding out more about their perspectives asks for rethinking language and speaking in a multispecies context, for attending to their silences, and thus for listening. In my talk I will discuss political listening within and between multispecies communities, drawing on insights from ethology, multispecies ethnography and political animal philosophy. I will also explore political listening to new voices, using Pauline Oliveros’ concept deep listening as a starting point.
More info can be found here.
Source https://www.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/eevk/veranstaltungen/hingehoert/