Voices everywhere

‘Voices Everywhere’ captures a deliberate duality. Phrased as an empowering call, the theme first evokes the resilient presence of voices from diverse places and backgrounds, especially those long marginalised, who continue to assert their perspectives, claim visibility, and resist attempts of censorship and silencing. It celebrates the persistence of expression in all its forms - spoken, written, performed, visual, and embodied - each asserting presence, agency, and identity in times of constraint. Alternatively, the theme also encapsulates the reality of information overload. In a post-truth world characterised by the pervasiveness of social media and new technologies, we are often overwhelmed by noise, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Questions of authenticity, authorship, and the survival of the ‘real’ thus become increasingly urgent as genuine voices risk being obscured or distorted.

‘Voices’ is an expansive term that invites multiple interpretations. Taken literally, it refers to the sounds people make when they speak, write, sing, or perform. Metaphorically, it implies diverse forms of expression and perspective, encompassing the many ways individuals experience the world and articulate their stories, subjectivities, and identities. Texts, images, objects, movements, and performances can all be understood as ‘voices’ that communicate distinct viewpoints. Nonetheless, the ability to express these voices is never evenly distributed. As the asymmetry between the global North and the global South deepens, it prompts us to consider whose voices are amplified and whose are pushed aside. Beyond examining power structures and the politics of representation, we are invited to ask how marginalised voices can be supported to endure, flourish, and reach new audiences.

We welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Cross-cultural encounters and global exchanges as spaces where voices are negotiated, translated, or transformed
• The ethics and practice of expression in the age of AI: authenticity, authorship, and the politics of technological mediation
• Intersections of gender, race, class, and disability in shaping who is heard, how, and by whom
• The role of creative works in articulating personal and collective memory, trauma, silence or belonging
• Emotion and affect as forces that shape how voices resonate, circulate, and become socially meaningful
• The politics of voice, censorship, and silence in contexts of surveillance, suppression, and strategic refusal
• Educational practices and community frameworks that support voice finding, empowerment, and expressive agency
• Archival and curatorial practices in preserving, activating, and obscuring voices across time and media
• Reflections on researcher positionality and the ethics of listening, representing, and speaking about others

Submission guidelines

We invite submissions for individual papers (20 minutes in length). Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words, accompanied by a brief academic biography (50-100 words).

Please submit your proposals via our submissions form by Friday 27 March 2026. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by the end of April.

The conference will take place on 20 May 2026

The conference will be held at the University of Birmingham and online. We welcome both in-person and online presenters and attendees!

Conference committee

• Zizhou Chen (Department of Art History, Curating, and Visual Studies)
• Yuheng Fan (Department of Modern Languages)
• Kenneth Murray (Department of Art History, Curating, and Visual Studies)
• Abigail Poole (Department of Modern Languages)

Contact us

For queries, please contact Dr Isobel Palmer at i.m.j.palmer@bham.ac.uk