Listening Glossary

Hundreds of ways to listen, gathered from across art, activism and everyday life

Listening Glossary explores the many meanings and practices of listening. In an era shaped by climate crisis, war and deepening social inequalities, listening is increasingly called upon to bear witness – to melting glaciers, disappearing species, militarised borders, extractive infrastructures and other forms of violence and loss.

This glossary is a practical guide to listening as a social, political and imaginative practice. It gathers over two hundred terms from art, ecology, activism, psychology, education and philosophy across nine decades of thinking about listening as a way of relating to others, environments and structures of power. Entries invite listening through another’s ears or from specific perspectives, encountering forms of listening that range from the non-cochlear to the interspecies. Together, these entries reveal listening as a critical method for understanding and transforming the worlds we inhabit.