I was also thinking about this in relation to empathy and maybe there also being a pressure to make one empathize with the other, if you like. And how this might be problematic, given that empathy is so dependent on similarity and proximity. Yes, i think the beauty of developing one's own tools of ampathy is to stretch yourself to a point where you can look at yourself. To learn how to look at the world through radically different eyes is, i believe, a beautiful pursuit.
Language is expressive, a way of opening doors or a tool for creating new dialogue. But a tool so powerful can also take us to unforeseen or unintended places. It can create narratives that become fixed, unhelpful, or exclusionary. Kübra Gümüsay is a writer and activist focusing on social justice and public discourse. Her new book is Speaking and Being, which looks at the power of words, asking whether language creates freeing new spaces or plays a part in walling them off. Our host for the discussion is Danielle Sands, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway University in London, where she works across disciplines bridging philosophy, literary studies and critical theory.
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