Tanja Dreher

Listening across difference: Media and multiculturalism beyond the politics of voice

Research and policy on media and cultural diversity routinely emphasize speaking or ‘voice’, whether in mainstream, community or diaspora media. An established tradition also examines representation and critiques examples stereotyping and racialization. This paper extends these discussions to focus on questions of ‘listening’. Attention to listening provokes important questions about media and multiculturalism: how do media enable or constrain listening across difference? Drawing on recent work in postcolonial feminism and political theory, this paper explores the productive possibilities of a shift beyond the politics of voice to explore ‘listening across difference’ in media studies and media advocacy work. To highlight listening shifts some of the focus and responsibility for change from marginalized voices and on to the conventions, institutions and privileges which shape who and what can be heard in the media.

Listening, pathbuilding and continuations: A research agenda for the analysis of listening

This introductory paper posits ‘listening’ as a rubric for reframing contemporary media theory and practice. We propose moving beyond questions of voice, speaking and representation to focus on often-ignored questions of listening as the ‘other side’ of communication. This article sets out the ways in which it may be possible to address the neglected question of listening, not in isolation but rather, following Susan Bickfords notion of ‘pathbuilding’, through explorations of speaking and listening, voice and hearing, logos and interpretation/deconstruction. The article argues for more receptive forms of public discourse and media practice, while seeking to place the recent problematization of listening in a critical framework. Through a survey of theorizations of listening and explication of their research agenda, the authors consider listening in relation to conflict and inequality in diverse practices of citizenship. A central aim is to push discussion of listening practices beyond individual, personal, and private forms of discourse and to identify a spectrum of listening practices that complicate the speaking/listening binary.

Globalization and the public sphere Exploring the space of community media in Sydney

Recent accounts of Habermass conception of the public sphere concern the interlocking of multiple networks and spaces. In a global context new interfaces between existing (counter-) public spheres can lead to multiple counter-publics. This article explores this phenomenon through the examination of the communicative spaces that offer alternatives to Australias mainstream public sphere from three different strands of Sydneys community media: diasporic media (Assyrian Radio SBS), Indigenous media (Koori Radio) and discursive sites that operate in between ethnic and mainstream media (Forum for Australias Islamic Relations).

Resentment and reluctance: working with everyday diversity and everyday racism in southern Sydney

Pilot research on community conflict resolution, conducted in a local government area in southern Sydney in late 2006, revealed paradoxical findings: the simultaneous presence of both high levels of cross-cultural mixing and appreciation of the areas culturally diverse population; and the prevalence of prejudice against Arab and Muslim residents and visitors to the area. Many respondents, who supported cultural diversity, saw Arab and Muslim Australians as an exception and even a threat to harmonious community relations. Particularly striking was the anxiety and anger caused by their apparent large numbers, seen to be taking over certain public recreational spaces. This paper explores the contradictions in these findings in light of other contemporary Australian research and identifies complex and difficult issues to be addressed by research and by local government. In particular, the paper discusses the need to address the interconnections between both everyday multiculturalisms and everyday racisms, to distinguish between ‘victim’ claims amongst diverse communities, and to ground research and policies on ‘place-sharing’ in Indigenous sovereignties.

A partial promise of voice: Digital storytelling and the limits of listening

The continual rise of participatory media offers increasing opportunities for nonprofessionals and marginalised communities to tell their stories. In the policy arena, Australias Social Inclusion Agenda and international debates on indicators of well-being name ‘voice’ as a key capability for social inclusion and individual flourishing. In this article, I engage recent scholarship on ‘listening’ and ‘voice that matters’ to highlight the limits of the participatory media genre of digital storytelling and of the social inclusion category of ‘voice’. The discussion is illustrated via examples from public launch events for ‘mini-films’ produced in digital storytelling projects facilitated by Information Cultural Exchange (ICE), a new media arts organisation working in Sydneys cosmopolitan western suburbs. While these public events ensure a process of ‘voice’, I argue for a greater commitment to political listening in media research, practice and policy, lest the promise of ‘voice’ remain only partially fulfilled.

Indigenous voices and mediatized policy-making in the digital age

ABSTRACT This article explores the potential of emerging digital cultures for Indigenous participation in policy debates in the rapidly changing Australian media landscape. From the Zapatistas ‘netwar’ to the ‘hashtag activism’ of IdleNoMore, Indigenous people have pioneered innovative uses of digital media for global connectivity and contestation. Digital and social media open up unprecedented opportunities for voice, and, in theory, participation in decision-making. But there is limited understanding about how Indigenous voices are heard at times of major policy reform, and whether increased participation in digital media necessarily leads to increased democratic participation. Leading Indigenous commentators in Australia suggest an inability of governments and other influential players to listen sits at the heart of the failure of Indigenous policy. This article presents two contemporary Australian case studies that showcase Indigenous participatory media response to government policy initiatives: first, the diverse reaction in social media to the government-sponsored campaign for constitutional reform to acknowledge Australias First Peoples, branded as Recognise and second, the social media-driven movement #sosblakaustralia, protesting against the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities. This article brings together theories of political participation, media change and listening to ask whether key democratic institutions, including the mainstream news media and political decision-makers, can engage with the proliferation of Indigenous voices enabled by participatory media. We argue that while the digital media environment allows diverse Indigenous voices to be represented, recent scholarship on participation and listening extends the analysis to ask which voices are heard as politics is increasingly mediatized.

Climate Refugees or Migrants? Contesting Media Frames on Climate Justice in the Pacific

Climate justice is rarely encountered in Australian media coverage of issues around climate change. The rare coverage of climate justice issues often focuses on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Kiribati and commonly makes use of four main media frames: SIDS as “proof” of climate change, SIDS as “victims” of climate change, SIDS communities as climate “refugees,” and SIDS as travel destinations. Yet these frames undermine the desire of SIDS communities to be seen as proactive, self-determining, and active agents of change. This paper explores the way in which Pacific Islanders view the existing media coverage of their concerns over climate change and how they would prefer the media to tell their stories. Through an action research collaboration with a climate change non-governmental organization working in Kiribati and Australia, participants proposed alternative frames for climate justice media, including frames of human rights, active change agents, and migration with dignity.

The listening key: Unlocking the democratic potential of indigenous participatory media

This article explores how a listening approach might address the complex challenges of researching the relationship between Indigenous participation in media and mainstream policy-making processes. An overview of contemporary Indigenous media demonstrates how digital and social media have built on the vibrant and innovative Indigenous media tradition, and enabled a proliferation of new Indigenous voices. But do the powerful listen to Indigenous-produced media, and does this constitute meaningful participation in the political process? The article distinguishes between participation as involvement in the production and dissemination of media, and participation as political influence. It argues that both meanings are crucial for fully realising the potential of Indigenous participatory media, and contends that a listening approach might offer ways to research and unlock the democratic potential of Indigenous media participation.

Globalization and the public sphere

Recent accounts of Habermass conception of the public sphere concern the interlocking of multiple networks and spaces. In a global context new interfaces between existing (counter-) public spheres can lead to multiple counter-publics. This article explores this phenomenon through the examination of the communicative spaces that offer alternatives to Australias mainstream public sphere from three different strands of Sydneys community media: diasporic media (Assyrian Radio SBS), Indigenous media (Koori Radio) and discursive sites that operate in between ethnic and mainstream media (Forum for Australias Islamic Relations).

Not another hijab row: New conversations on gender, race, religion and the making of communities

Headscarves in schools. Sexual violence in Indigenous communities. Muslim women at public swimming pools. Polygamy. Sharia law. Outspoken Imams on sexual assault. Integration and respect for women. It seems that around the world in the media and public debate, women’s issues are at the top of the agenda. Yet all too often, support for women’s rights is proclaimed loudest by conservative politicians intent on policing communities and demonising Muslims during the ‘war on terror’. This edition of the Transforming Cultures eJournal offers critical reflections on the contemporary politics of gender, race and religion, and provides a platform for those perspectives which are too often sidelined in the debate, perspectives that seek to go beyond simplistic debates such as ‘hijab: to ban or not to ban?’ or ‘Muslim women: oppressed or liberated?’