Who Speaks? Thirtieth Anniversary Dossier: Interventions

Abstract

It’s our thirtieth anniversary here at Qui Parle. Wondering how to honor this milestone—in a year that gave more reason for outcry than celebration—we turned to our title as a guiding frame: who speaks? Formulated as a question in the first weeks of 2017, this was, most immediately, a turn to thinking about speech today, be it free, double, or squarely violent. At the same time, it was a self-referential move. Who speaks when Qui Parle speaks? From its beginnings, Qui Parle has been a deeply collective project, with an astoundingly rapid generational turnover, and to capture it in its broadest essence would prove nearly impossible. None of us currently on the board of editors has been around for more than five years, so in a sense, we approach this anniversary with something of a short-term memory. But perhaps these shortcomings are the best testament to pay to the future of this collectivity, that it might keep growing, expanding, giving voice. We decided to reach back in time, offering up the limits of our collective memory as the catalyst for reunion, and gathering past voices from across and throughout these thirty years to testify as they saw fit to the journal, to speech, or simply to use this occasion as a timely soapbox.Here’s what we wrote:Dear Past Contributors,On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Qui Parle is publishing a special issue on speech, gathering articles that consider the act of speech, the conditions of its practice, and its political and aesthetic ramifications. As part of this anniversary issue, we are inviting you, our past contributors, to write a brief response to the question “Who Speaks?” We reach out to you at a time of deepening social and political uncertainty, one which calls for critical reflection in diverse forms. As such, we hope you’ll accept this invitation to reflect in whatever way you see fit: critique, satire, anecdote, poetry, even illustration. We will collect your impressions as a dossier in this special issue. Contributions should be between 1–1000 words (or a visual equivalent) and submitted to us by April 21, 2017.Thank you for your contributions to Qui Parle across these 30 years. We look forward to hearing and seeing what you have to say!Sincerely,The Editors of Qui ParleHere’s how they, you, responded, arranged chronologically in order of appearance in the pages of the journal. We were grateful to receive so many kind words, well-wishings, anecdotes, critical reflections, and acute interventions. In the end, we settled on thirty contributions to best reflect the occasion (and so as not to overwhelm our generous publishers). They appear in this issue next to other previous contributors, as well as a series of new voices. They speak to and resonate with one another, yet they do not always agree. Between disciplines, generations, and critical perspectives, the voices in this collection insist on openness of the question itself, “who speaks?” Now we share their responses—and this issue—with you, our readers, in hopes of opening the conversation further. So here they are, thirty voices for thirty years. And here’s to thirty more. Authors included:Jared SextonJean-Luc NancyJ. Hillis MillerLisa Myōbun FreinkelKaren JacobsJohn CulbertAlexander García DüttmannMichael NaasLisa SamuelsJeff FortAra H. MerjianStuart J. Murray and Sara KendallGerhard RichterKaren FeldmanAlphonso LingisPaola BacchettaMarjorie PerloffJames MartelEli FriedlanderWayne KoestenbaumSimon PorzakJohn BrenkmanJoseph VoglMieke BalChristopher BrackenStefanos GeroulanosMartin CrowleyMichael MarderLisa Hofmann-KurodaPeter Connor and Avital Ronell cofounded Qui Parle at the University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1980s. 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