Voice and International Studies

The call to include different voices in international studies has been made from heterogenous vantage points. Critical theoretical traditions—like feminist, postcolonial, and decolonial lenses—have long pointed to the field’s lack of engagement with the voices and perspectives of those most marginalized by global political relations. To remedy these omissions, scholars demand more conversation and dialogue, in which the voices of those who are often ignored are meaningfully incorporated. Other contributions have interrogated the ways in which scholars of international studies write without their voice, instead adopting an objective, scientific standpoint in scholarship. Here, critics urge researchers in the field to consider the harms of losing their voice in their writing and demand scholars re-center the “I” in their studies. At the same time, however, the task of enriching global conversations so as to include other voices is fraught with complications. Relations of power shape the conversational stage, the voices themselves, and researchers’ capacities to listen and reflect on those other voices. In foregrounding these challenges and suggesting possible strategies for navigating the complexities of conversing with different voices, scholarship on voice in international studies tracks the difficulties of speaking, the ambiguity of silences, and the role of listening in attempts to dialogue with diverse others. Importantly, researchers in the field of international studies have also considered how to respond to others after they have spoken and after listening. Whether it be strategizing how to nurture conversational spaces that encourage others to speak, considering what silences (chosen or forced) reveal, thinking about how researchers use their own voices, or contemplating how to learn to listen more fully, the literature reviewed here entreats researchers to think critically and carefully about voice—and the speaking-listening relation—in both the study and practice of international relations.