Call for Papers
Conference theme: ‘Unmuting’
10th September 2026, University of Kent, in-person conference
Language Centre, University of Kent
Silence is never neutral. Voices may be muted through structures of power, disciplinary boundaries,
linguistic limitations, or historical erasure. At the same time, acts of unmuting raise ethical and
methodological questions: who speaks, for whom, and under what conditions? Unmuting seeks to foster
dialogue on how silences are produced, sustained, contested, or transformed, and how attention to
silence can reshape critical practice.
This interdisciplinary conference invites early-career researchers, including doctoral students and
postdocs, to reflect on practices of unmuting across ecological, linguistic, cultural, and political contexts,
fostering dialogue around key issues in silence, voicelessness and representation with particular attention
to marginalised forms of knowledge, ecological discourse and identity.
We welcome papers from across the humanities, including (but not limited to) literature, cultural studies,
linguistics, philosophy, history, media studies, postcolonial and decolonial studies, digital humanities,
environmental humanities, and related fields.
We welcome contributions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:
• More-than-human narratives, anthropomorphism, and non-human agency
• Silence as resistance, refusal, or method
• Decolonial, postcolonial and feminist approaches to voice, knowledge, and representation
• Speaking on behalf of others: ethics, mediation, and power
• Linguistic perspectives on silence, voice, and meaning-making
• Climate change communication across scientific, political, and popular registers
• Marginalised, erased and suppressed knowledge and knowledge-making
• Translation, mediation, and incommensurability
• Data-driven research on silence, power, and other related themes
• Platform, algorithm, audience
This conference is also connected to special edition of the Skepsi journal with the same theme, with a
planned publication schedule of winter 2026-2027, details to be announced.
Timeline and procedure:
The conference will take place in person on Thursday 10th September 2026.
Participants are invited to send the following:
– An abstract (max. 250 words), including a title of the proposed paper
– A short biography (max. 150 words)
– 3-5 keywords
Please send applications to skepsijournal@kent.ac.uk with the subject line “Unmuting Conference”.
Closing date for applications: 1st April 2026
Acceptance of applications: You will hear from us by 1st May 2026 if your application is accepted.
This conference is organised by Louise Wigglesworth, Amy Bergman, Beth Waldock and Qiujing Fan, and
will be hosted by Skepsi at the Language Centre, University of Kent.