CoursesListening in Troubled Times
ENGL 0755 / ANTH 1755

Listening in Troubled Times

“Listening enables us to give democratic shape to our being together in the world,” according to the political philosopher Susan Bickford. In this course, we will explore histories and theories of listening and the power of listening as a means to connect with other times and spaces.

Wednesday, 12:00 PM – 2:59 PM

In a world replete with suffering, listening is an essential skill that can help us find solace and community together, connecting what is singular in us with what binds us to another. Mindful of the dissolution of communal bonds that have intensified in the face of recent pandemics and crises, both domestically and globally, the course will also engage matters of public trust and social cohesion.

Teya Sepinuck, artist and founding director of Theater of Witness, will engage the students on a recurring basis each month and facilitate several listening exercises and embodied experiences, at times joined by patients, caregivers, Environmental Services workers and others collaborators from Penn Medicine.

Course requirements include active preparation, regular attendance, substantive participation in discussions and timely submission of assigned work. Assignments will include weekly readings and postings on Canvas and occasional presentations in class. In addition students will be expected to facilitate a reflection session as part of their final assignment.

The course will meet weekly at Public Trust, a community-engaged non-profit arts organization on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania that fosters learning and collaboration on behalf of struggles for justice and equality, and which seeks to restore, even within the time of this pandemic, a sense of trust in collectivity and the common good. The course title references the public program of the same name that was organized by the SNF Paideia program in November 2021.

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