We're in an era where many people feel an ownership over certain words, and how a community expresses itself. The term "appropriation" has come to create guardrails around what can be said and by whom. Award-winning Canadian writer Ian Williams considers the role of speech and silence in reallocating power, and what it means to truly listen.

The CBC Massey Lecture series What I mean to say — remaking conversation in our time was recorded live across Canada in November 2024. This fourth lecture Who can speak for whom to whom about what? was recorded in Victoria, British Columbia.

Speakers

Ian WilliamsPoet and author, Reproduction (Scotiabank Giller Award winner), Disorientation. Being Black in the World, Word problems (Raymond Souster Award 2021), and moreProfessor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto

Kathryn Marlow Local radio host, CBC Victoria

Nahlah Ayad CBC Ideas host

Further information:

Since 1961, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has produced the Massey Lectures featuring leading Canadian thinkers asking questions that make us better human beings. The lectures are a partnership between CBC, House of Anansi Press, and Massey College in the University of Toronto.

How To Upgrade Your Thoughts