From listening … to the dialogic realities of participatory democracy

Abstract

The idea of listening offers a means of reframing contemporary media theory and the project of cultural studies in such a way that the 'other half' of communication can enter the picture on an equal footing. Many of the implications, both politically and conceptually, of such a move were canvassed in a special issue of Continuum in 2009.This paper engages with the themes of the special issue and elaborates on the implications through a consideration of core issues from perspectives not covered in that issue. We draw particularly on the traditions of hermeneutics, pragmatism and social constructionism to refashion the idea of communicating so that intersubjectivity and praxis are brought to the fore. This refashioning provides the basis for a critical consideration of what it can mean to engage in dialogue. Ideas of dialogue driven by the presumption of shared understanding are discarded in favour of a form of dialogic listening across difference. We proceed to show how these ideas contribute to the heart of the Listening Project's research agenda: understanding and meeting the challenges of democratic dialogue.The special Continuum issue on Listening was under the guest editorship of Penny O'Donnell, Justine Lloyd, and Tanja Dreher, convenors of the Listening Project in Australia. As we read that special issue, we were struck by the extent to which the contributors appeared open to explorations that, to use Mark Gibson's phrase, 'restore [d] politics and culture to a more communicative space ' (2009, 472). But what struck us even more forcibly were the attributes ascribed to that communicative space: there was repeated use of such concepts as dialogue, relational spaces, meaningful interaction, agency, reciprocity, subjectivity and democracy.We were excited by the ideas offered in the special issue. They were, as Nick Couldry said, a 'genuinely new intervention' for cultural studies (2009, 579). The arguments in that issue also suggested there may be an opportune conjunction for listening (and talking) across paradigms from other areas of the amorphous field of communication. This paper attempts just that. In the words of Bickford (1996), we endeavour to establish the possibility for 'pathbuilding' across different perspectives that have, historically at least, not been visible in cultural studies.Our pathbuilding takes the form of four progressive moves. The first considers the nature of the problems that the Listening Project addresses and the issues that are at stake. The second stage of the journey offers a way of refashioning communication that meets the needs of the Listening Project and that allows us to segue into the third by suggesting

Organizational listening: Addressing a major gap in public relations theory and practice

“…Voice is widely used as a metaphor for representation and communication and is cited as a human right (Husband, 1996(Husband, , 2009Penman & Turnbull, 2012); as an essential element of relationships (Baxter, 2011); as the foundation of democracy, which is based on vox populi -the voice of the people (Fishkin, 1995;Green, 2010); and as a necessity for social equity (Couldry, 2010). Couldry describes voice as "the implicitly linked practices of speaking and listening" (2009, p. 580).…”

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“…La dificultad para describir y explicar argumentativamente en sus narrativas docentes qué condiciones pueden hacer emerger un contacto pedagógico auténtico es manifiesta (Korthagen, Attema y Zwart, 2014) y seguimos percibiendo en sus relatos una perspectiva comunicativa fuertemente cognitiva y unidireccional pues el diseño de un ambiente estimulante y motivador en el que el estudiante pueda desarrollar los objetivos educativos es vista mayoritariamente como una responsabilidad exclusiva docente (Fernández, Tuset, Pérez y García, 2013). La inexistencia en estas narrativas de reflexiones que señalen otros aspectos facilitadores del contacto pedagógico como la apertura a lo desconocido, (Arndt, 2017), una actitud ética para recibir a la otredad (Gehrke, 2009;Lipari, 2009), el silencio o suspensión de juicio egótico (Beard, 2009) o unas relaciones más democráticas (Penman y Turnbull, 2012), podrían conformar puntos ciegos en sus narrativas limitando una mejor comprensión epistemológica sobre el propio quehacer docente (Leijen, Allas, Pedaste y Knezic, 2015;Phillips y Napan, 2016) y contribuyendo al desarrollo de un docente más consciente de sus creencias (Korthagen, 2004;Korthagen, 2010;Nuñez y Fontana, 2009;Aubert et al, 2010).…”

Listening and being listened to as affection exchange in marital discussions about the #MeToo movement

“…Dialogic listening is listening that allows dialogues to occur (Cornwell & Orbe, 1999; Penman & Turnbull, 2012). For example, listening in supportive contexts can be bolstered by how actively one listens in those contexts and the ability for a dialogue to take place following disclosure or support-seeking (Bodie & Jones, 2012).…”