‘I Can Speak’ at the Interdisciplinary Symposium: Polyphony and Silence


15 May 2025 | STUK, Leuven, Belgium

Polyphony and silence are vital to understanding voice and representation, particularly in resisting dominant political and cultural forces. While polyphony unites multiple voices in diversity, silence functions as both omission and resistance, creating space for listening. These concepts confront nationalist and colonial narratives, particularly in migration and marginalisation.

From the enforced ‘culture of silence’ under dictatorship to the quietude of a village above a lake, both can serve as profound spaces for meaning-making and self-expression, as seen in our I Can Speak performance. This symposium explores how polyphony and silence intersect across literature, art, and activism to contest power structures.

Part of the ERC Starting Grant project COLLAB, which examines collaborative literary practices in migration and displacement. (https://collab-lit.com/about/)