Send message to Author

Paper short abstract:

Exploring shifts from imperatives to ‘Unlearn How to Not-Speak’ to demands that those who benefit from structural violence start to ‘Unlearn How to Not-Hear’.

Paper long abstract:

Structural Violence; harm caused by systemic, structural impediments to people being able to meet their basic needs; is comprised of uses and abuses of power that can be both insidiously complex and frighteningly straightforward. This paper explores ways in which beliefs and practices around what is unsaid and unsayable contribute to systemic structural violence.

Firstly, I will explore examples of un-muting from popular culture (such as the articulation of slut-shaming discourses), and from biomedical culture (such as resistances to medical dominance). I then examine recent discourses around acknowledgement of privilege. I suggest there is a shift occurring from expectations that people disadvantaged by structural violence 'Unlearn How to Not-Speak' to a moral imperative that demands that those who benefit from structural violence 'Unlearn How to Not-Hear'.