CfP: Listening to Arctic Voices – Storytelling as a Method to Exchange, Develop and Decolonize Knowledge Production Practices (17.–18.02.2027, Bern, Switzerland) Deadline: 14.10.2026
Call for Papers:
Listening to Arctic Voices – Storytelling as a Method to Exchange, Develop and Decolonize Knowledge Production Practices.
17.02.-18.02.2027
Bern, Switzerland
Organizers: Sara Valentina Hauser-Rohr (PhD Student, University of Bern), Swantje Opitz (PhD student, University of Göttingen)
Whether in conversation, research, museums, or art, we all tell and listen to stories every day. Stories impact our world. They hold the power to intergenerationally build connections with humans, non-humans, and places, to learn from one another, and to teach each other (Cajete, 1994; Lewis, 2006; Kovach, 2018; Iseke, 2021; Chan, 2021). In Indigenous traditions, storytelling is a foundational method of education, governance, and cultural continuity. Oral traditions are dynamic, relational, embodied acts of knowing, where stories are co-created through listening, memory, and responsibility. They carry intergenerational wisdom, sustain relationships with land and ancestors, and affirm identity in the face of historical and ongoing disruption. Listening to stories, voices and sounds, has always been understood as a holistic practice among Indigenous communities. One that includes observation, reflection, and building relationships based on trust and understanding, not only among humans, but also with more-than-humans, including the natural world. To truly listen, one must learn to be quiet, to wait, and to be present (Sioui/Shawayahamish, 2023; McGloin, 2015).
This symposium centers storytelling and listening as decolonizing practices that foster relational, accountable knowledge co-creation, mutual learning, and transparency. Through this, it aims to transform research into an act of care that connects scholars, artists, and Indigenous knowledge holders across Europe and the Arctic.
In an era defined by climate crisis, geopolitical instability, and urgent calls for justice, the longstanding practices of listening and storytelling have never been more urgent. Against this backdrop, the Arctic now moves to the center of global attention – despite being long been connected to other parts of the world through Indigenous networks, colonial ventures, missionary work, and scientific exploration. Climate change, rising geopolitical tensions, and ongoing debates over Indigenous self-determination, cultural heritage preservation, representation, and decolonization have intensified scrutiny of how knowledge about the Arctic and its inhabitants is produced and shared
Yet, despite this heightened visibility, the voices of Arctic Indigenous peoples are too often absent or misrepresented. In institutions such as universities, museums, and art spaces, stories from the Arctic and its communities have too often been ignored or told from external, colonial perspectives. These narratives are frequently shaped by outsiders, extracted for academic or aesthetic purposes, and stripped of context, voice, and power. Who gets to decide which stories are worth telling? Who holds the authority to narrate? Here lies the critical challenge of our time: How can institutions that have historically silenced or distorted Indigenous knowledge begin to listen and truly hear? True decolonization demands a radical shift: from speaking for to listening to, from collecting to gifting, and from representing to relating.
This symposium is intended as a response to that imperative. It calls for critical reflection and transformative practice. How can listening become a form of knowledge production? How can Western epistemologies be reoriented toward Indigenous paradigms? How can research, museums, and art become spaces where Indigenous stories are not only told but honored, cocreated, and sustained?
Aim of the Symposium
Drawing on Margaret Kovach’s insight that “collecting data is the gifting of another’s story to a researcher” (2021: 156), we explore storytelling as a site of decolonization. There, knowledge is not extracted but co-created through trust and care. We aim to build “living connections animated through the exchange of story” (Kovach, 2021: 156), fostering collaboration, mutual learning, and accountability based on listening.
The symposium serves as a vital platform for connection and offers researchers, museum professionals and artists across Europe and the Arctic a chance to meet, collaborate, and build networks. Centered on storytelling and listening, it is a space to actively gift and exchange stories, bridging Indigenous and Western ways of being and knowing. Further, the symposium aims to provide a transparent insight into current research concerning Arctic Indigenous communities and/or materials, ensuring visibility and accountability. Ultimately, this symposium is a space where research becomes an act of care. Here listening nurtures kindness, and the exchange of stories strengthens collective responsibility. Together, we can imagine and discuss productive ways of decolonization.
Target group
We invite Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, researchers, artists and knowledge holders to this symposium that focuses on Arctic voices and centers storytelling as a relational, ethical, and decolonizing practice rooted in listening, reciprocity, and shared responsibility. Everyone who addresses Indigeneity, decolonization, storytelling and / or listening or is exploring Indigenous Arctic communities, materials, topics or sounds in their work at universities, museums, archives, as well as in art, is welcome. Open to traditional presentations as well as artistic and experimental formats, the event fosters dialogue across disciplines and epistemologies.
Possible topics to address
How does listening transform research, curation, and collaboration?
How can storytelling disrupt extractive practices and center Indigenous agency?
How can researchers honor relational accountability and avoid extractive engagement?
How can museums and universities become spaces of mutual learning and care?
How do stories sustain identity, resistance, and hope across time and space?
How can material culture become a voice in decolonizing knowledge systems?
Ethical considerations when representing Arctic Indigenous communities and/or handling Arctic Indigenous materials
…
Submitting
Interested parties are welcome to submit an abstract of max. 250 words in English. We encourage especially young and aspiring scholars and artists. Each selected presenter is given 20 minutes for a presentation in a format of their choosing plus 20 minutes for exchange.
Deadline: October 14th 2026
Participation fee: 50 CHF / No participation fee for students
Submit your abstract as pdf to both email addresses: sara.rohr[at]unibe[dot]ch and swantje.opitz[at]uni-goettingen[dot]de
If you have any questions, please reach out to the organizers