In an age of democratic regression and growing polarization, listening to one another has become increasingly difficult. The erosion of U.S. democracy is evident in the routine use of executive orders as policymaking tools and in the dismantling of institutions designed to sustain a healthy, vibrant democracy, such as the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Social Security Administration (see Apple and Brehm, 2024; American Oversight, 2025). As long-standing democratic safeguards crumble and anti-internationalization, anti-immigration, and anti-Muslim sentiments take center stage, it has become even harder to build and maintain dialogue with those who think drastically differently from us.

Still, the weakening of U.S. democracy isn’t the only barrier to listening. For some time, our earful attention (Bitter, 2022) has been commodified. This should come as no surprise in a time when attention, bodies, care, and even intimacy have all been turned into things we buy and sell (Patico, 2019). It’s not just that our ears—and our capacity to listen—are overworked and undervalued; they’re expected to absorb without pause, and to crave more.

Drawing on the premise that listening is a precondition for democracy (see Scudder, 2021), I join others (see Diab et al, 2017; Lewis, 2017; Joseph and Briscoe-Smith, 2021) to propose that we engage in radical listening—a disposition that holds promise for revitalizing democratic values and practices in our daily interactions. In contrast to the hurried pace of capitalism, radical listening requires us to pause time; it asks that we direct our senses and attention to those who use their voice, suspend our judgment, and fully absorb what they have to say. Radical listening implies that we rely on others to inform our ideas, recognizing that the goal is understanding rather than proselytizing. Some of you might be wondering – ‘What exactly is so radical about this?’ The answer lies in the fact that the interactions emerging from these encounters are meant to dismantle dominant, dismissive and commodified ways of listening and help us “form the root” that will activate the relational processes that protect and expand democracy.

Yet radical listening, when conceived solely as a personal effort, fails to acknowledge what we as educators can do to honor hooks’s description of the classroom as “the most radical space of possibility in the academy” (1994, p. 12). Listening to Laura Chávez-Moreno’s episode “How Schools Make Race” reminded me that the intentional design of our classes as spaces for radical listening can help us and our students inform next steps for actualizing what we envision for our communities. While I don’t offer a universal formula, I want to share how I strive to incorporate radical listening into my teaching.

I teach courses that explore educational policy studies through three distinct lenses: critical development studies, critical humanitarianism, and contemporary state theory. In building my syllabi, I include authors who represent diverse identities and epistemological stances, as well as those with perspectives different from my own. Podcasts can reveal the humanity of authors in a powerful way, highlighting the conditions and questions that drive their thinking and doing. When listening, I ask students: “What brought this person to this question?”, “Are you convinced by their arguments?”, “If you were conducting the interview, what questions would you add?” Through these, I hope students engage in radical listening without shying away from dissent or the discomfort it might bring.

Given the interdependence of radical listening and dialogue, I guide students from conversation to discussion, treating it as a skill that can be developed, refined, and self-assessed (see The Discussion Project). Throughout the semester, I incorporate small- and large-group discussions that encourage students to listen to and build upon one another’s ideas. There are two protocols that I find particularly helpful in encouraging students to engage in radical listening: Jigsaw Group and The Final Word. These two collaborative learning strategies create space for students to build on one another’s ideas to inform their own thinking.

Listening to others without judgment is a big challenge—but it’s only part of the work. Just as important is creating space for students to raise their own voices. With that in mind, my undergraduate students build their own version of FreshEd by creating podcasts. This semester, students in Education across the Americas: Empire, Capitalism, and Racismproduced podcasts on powerful topics—including the educational implications of ending birthright citizenship in the U.S., a historical review of teacher and student movements in the U.S. and Mexico, and a personal reflection on the socio-emotional toll of living and learning under the threat of deportation. Graduate students in Critical Development Studies run their own deliberations. Unlike a debate, where the goal is to win, a deliberation is a type of discussion where participants thoughtfully explore an issue, considering multiple and even divergent arguments (see Brighouse, 2024). In small groups, they craft a thought-provoking question, read multiple sources to explore it from different angles, and submit a recording of their exchange.

Our disregard for radical listening is part of why we are where we are today. If we don’t fully embrace radical listening, we risk sliding further toward fascism. Right now, without radical listening we become the echo chambers that amplify the louder voices. The kind of listening I am advocating for goes against the distractions of political theater and the silence that Susan Robertson and Mario Novelli denounce in their episode “2024 in Review”. It should help us direct our earful attention on the multiple forms of violence that require our committed and sustained undoing.

June 1, 2025