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Paper short abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among student activists in the US and Denmark we shift the attention from (free) speech to the act of listening and argue that central to students’ activism is the development of a ‘critical listening positionality’ as a continuous ethical practice.

Paper long abstract:

”… having had this conversation with these students (…) just from listening to them about what a distraction it [the N-word] is, and how much pain is caused - I’ve decided not to use this example in class. (…) That’s why this a great example of free speech, which means not only talking, but also listening” (Prof. Geoffrey Stone in Flaherty 2019)“

In countries like the US and Denmark, student activism to promote social justice at the university has led to vivid debate about free speech, not least because of student activists’ attention to language, including the role of harmful words (like the N-word above), use of pronouns and people-first language. These debates tend to focus on speech and expression, revolving around individuals’ rights to voice their opinions, notions of silencing and keeping a civil tone. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork from the USA and Denmark and theories on listening in pedagogical and political settings (Lempert forthcoming, Dobson 2014) this paper homes in on the role of listening in students’ activism. We show how attention to, and care for listening, not just hearing, marks activist spaces with a wish for others and themselves to develop, learn and grow from what is heard, i.e. developing a certain form of ‘critical listening positionality’ (Robinson 2020). Listening thereby becomes a continuous ethical practice in which the intention behind an utterance and behind a listening act shape the assessment and learning potential of the encounter.