Stellenbosch University
Welcome to Stellenbosch University
Listening as a Political Act
Start: 18/09/2019, 12:30
End: 18/09/2019, 13:45
Contact:To assist with catering please RSVP to Landi Meiring -
Location: Stellenbosch University Museum, 52 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch

​Listening is deeply entwined with race, racism, with power and control. But, if we are willing to ask some difficult questions and listen to the answers, listening can help us to understand how our identities have been constructed in opposition to ‘the other’, and see ourselves and others in new ways. It can also help us to find a way across boundaries and begin to destabilise embedded power structures. Used in this way, listening becomes a political act.

Brett Davidson is Director of Media and Narratives Division of the Public Health Program at Open Society Foundations in New York. His work focuses on changing long-held social narratives on race and ethnicity that impact public health. He has a particular interest in the role of storytelling, popular culture, and arts activism in bringing about social change. He is interested in ‘Radical Listening’ as a political practice in support of social justice. A journalist by training, he served as programme manager at Idasa (Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa), where he helped community radio stations in South Africa develop participatory news and current affairs programming.