Emily Beausoleil

BIO

I am a Senior Lecturer of Politics at Massey University and Associate Editor of Democratic Theory journal. My research as a political theorist centres on the dynamics, conditions and challenges of democratic engagement in diverse societies, with particular attention to the capacity for 'voice' and listening in conditions of inequality. This began through study of the potential and practice of the performing arts as forms of democratic engagement, focusing on the particular ‘voice’ such modes offer to marginalised positions. Recent and current work shifts the emphasis from ‘voice’ to the attendant challenges and conditions of listening. This shift first took shape through a study of the embodied dimensions of our openness to 'others', and how embodied practices might be used to facilitate listening in politics. Current research extends this to consider a wider range of contextual factors and cross-sectoral practices that may contribute to current understandings of and practical approaches to listening in conditions of difference and inequality. This project connects practical insight from 'master listeners' from four sectors (conflict mediation, therapy, performance, and education) to organisations across the country seeking to engage and move communities regarding the issue of growing socioeconomic inequality, to design forms of democratic engagement regarding this issue that are tailored to cultivate the conditions for listening by more economically advantaged communities. My hope is that this allows practical sectors to inform current listening scholarship, and ‘close the loop’ of research so that recommendations find their way back into practical application where they are needed most.

ARTEFACT

Summary of current project: https://royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/funds-and-opportunities/marsden/awarded-grants/marsden-fund-highlights/2016-marsden-highlights/hearing-the-difference-new-strategies-for-listening-in-contemporary-politics/

Article on 'Listening to Claims of Structural Injustice,' identifying key challenges to listening to issues like socioeconomic inequality by more powerful groups, in light of research with ten organisations across Aotearoa NZ working to engage communities about this issue (below):