Cultural Graffiti: A 5 Day Experiment – Day 4 – Silent Voices

This is Day 4 of a 5 Day Experiment that i am sharing around ‘Cultural Graffiti’. You can jump in here, or revisit the first post from Monday. Some voices are always loud, whilst others are silent, or silenced. Consider why, and how, voices are silenced.

Here are some examples of how your voice can be taken away:

• • You can be told to be silent
  • You may exist within a dominant societal narrative where you have no voice
  • You may exist under strict rules and strong consequence
  • You may be uncertain what is allowed, so you play it safe
  • You may have been penalised before, so you play it safe now
  • You may have seen others penalised or persecuted, so you have learnt to be silent by proxy
  • You may believe that an issue is not YOUR issue, so you ignore it
  • You may lack access to spaces where you can speak safely
  • You may lack the tools or technologies to tell your story
  • You may feel that you lack authenticity or permission to tell a story
  • You may not be clear exactly what the story is
  • You may be too angry to tell a story
  • You may be too passive to have a voice
  • Someone may have stolen your voice
  • You may find yourself painted into a corner where you are characterised as a troublemaker

Activity

There are two parts to this activity:

1. 1. Look around your own Organisation: how are voices silenced?
   2. How can you help someone to find their voice?