5th Annual Humanities Podcasting Network Symposium: “Podcasting & Power"

About This Year's Symposium

Punk rock isn’t something you grow out of. Punk rock is an attitude, and the essence of that attitude is ‘give us some truth.’”— Joe Strummer

For the 5th annual HPN Symposium, we find ourselves at a very particular moment in our culture where Joe Strummer’s quote is more imperative than ever. Everyday we’re inundated with information, with images and video, with a carefully curated summary of our world which is part of a purposely bloated download. We consume media consciously and unconsciously, and attempt to survive this bombardment isolated from our many communities.

Like Punk rock, podcasting can be a powerful response to the massive defunding of public radio and television, it can act as an alternative, independent of the constraints of big budget funding and be a dissenting dissonance occupying, building supportive community, and celebrating our raw diverse humanity.

The HPN wants this symposium to dig into the potential power of podcasting as a modality. At the same time, this raises so many more energetic questions: What is the role of the humanities podcaster in our current socio-political moment? How can collaborations enhance the indie-podcasters’ reach? Do scholastic podcasters need the Academy? How can podcasters speak truth to power in a saturated medium? How do we keep podcasting Punk rock?

We are turning to ALL podcasters: academic podcasters, non-academic podcasters, people in the podcasting and broadcasting industry, and everywhere else to participate in cracking open this discussion. What methods and trends evident in scholarly, educational, activist, and other creative spaces point toward podcasting’s power, its Punk rock origins, and how podcasting can be harnessed to speak truth to power?

Registering as an Attendee

Registration is free and open to podcasters and audio scholars from around the world.

On Oct 24 - 25, a Zoom link will be sent out shortly prior to the start of each session.

Schedule (all times are listed in EST)

Friday, October 24:

• 10:00 am—Symposium Opening and Welcome
• 10:30-11:45 am—Concurrent Sessions 1 & 2
• 1:00-2:15 pm—Concurrent Sessions 3 & 4
• 3:00-4:15 pm—Concurrent Sessions 5 & 6
• 5:00-6:15 pm—Concurrent Sesions 7 & 8

Saturday, October 25:

• 10:00-10:30 am—Key Note
• 10:30-11:45 am—Concurrent Sessions 9 & 10
• 1:00-2:15 pm—Concurrent Sessions 11 & 12
• 3:00-4:15 pm—Concurrent Sessions 13 & 14
• 5:00-6:15 pm—Session 15

Proposal Submission Deadline

The 2025 HPN Symposium Planning Committee seeks proposals for panels and individual presentations on topics related to the idea of “Podcasting & Power.” A conventional academic presentation format is not required. We encourage experimentation. Panels should fit within a 1.5-hour time limit inclusive of Q&A.

Preference will be given for full panels of three or more presenters, but individual submissions are welcome and will be grouped with similarly themed proposals. Solo submissions should be suitable for a 15–20 minute presentation.

Submissions may touch on such topics as:

• Podcasting as resistance
• Speaking truth to power in a post-truth media landscape
• Who speaks, who listens: power and responsibility in podcasting
• The role of podcasting in shaping public humanities
• Algorithms, platforms, and access: who gets heard?
• Podcasting across borders, languages, and communities
• Voice, silence, and podcasting’s politics of inclusion
• Building counter-publics and communities through podcasting
• Collective memory and podcasting as a grassroots archive

These are just suggestions. If you have other topics or ideas, please submit those.

All of our sessions will be recorded and uploaded to the HPN YouTube channel, and may be used in a future HPN podcast.

This year everyone who presents will receive the audio & video footage to post on your podcasts, websites, clips for social media, etc.

Please submit a minimum 100-word abstract for individual presentations or a minimum 250-word abstract for full panel proposals. Please include brief bios for each participant.

Proposals are due via Google Form by 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, September 23. Please contact the HPN Symposium Committee at humanitiespodnetwork@gmail.com with any questions, and include “HPN Symposium 2025” or “Podcasting & Power” in the subject line.

Panelists and discussants will be notified by Tuesday, Oct. 7th. The Symposium will take place on Zoom on Friday, October 24th and Saturday, October 25th.

Attendance is free! Registration is required.