Oscar Hemer and Thomas Tufte (Eds.), Voice + Matter: Communication, Development, and the Cultural Return

Abstract

The centrality of “voice” and “matter” is made clear by Oscar Hemer and Thomas Tufte, editors of Voice +Matter: Communication, Development and the Cultural Return.In the introduction of the book, the editors cite inspiration from the work of Nick Couldry. According to Couldry (2010), voice encompasses a “polyphony of concepts” (p. 11) such as participation, agency, activism, narrative, and artistic expression. While it is fundamentally important to democracy, voice by itself is not sufficient; rather, voice also requires, and is enhanced by, matter (i.e., material, substantive conditions).