Leah Bassel explores listening as a social and political practice, in contrast to the more common focus on voice and speaking. Her Book, The Politics of Listening: Possibilities and Challenges for Democratic Life, draws on cases from Canada, France and the United Kingdom, exploring: minority women and debates over culture and religion; riots and young men in France and England; citizen journalism and the creative use of different media; and solidarity between migrant justice and indigenous activists. Analysis across these diverse settings considers whether and how a politics of listening, which demands that the roles of speakers and listeners change, can be undertaken in adversarial and tense political moments. Bassel argues that such a practice has the potential to create new ways of being and acting together, as political equals who are heard on their own terms. For Listening Other·Wise, Bassel focusses on migrant justice struggles to explore whether and how listening has a role in the current polycrisis.

Biography

Leah Bassel is Professor of Politics and International Studies at Coventry University,in the UK. Her research interests cover the political sociology of migration, intersectionality and citizenship. Bassel’s books include The Politics of Listening: Possibilities and Challenges for Democratic Life (Palgrave, 2017) and Minority Women and Austerity: Survival and Resistance in France and Britain (Policy Press 2017), which was co-authored with Akwugo Emejulu. Before pursuing an academic career, Bassel was an emergency outreach worker in Paris, where she provided humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers and created a circus camp project for refugee youth.

Practical information

Programme: Listening Other·Wise
12-13.12.25, La Loge Brussels