Concordia theatre prof receives close to $200K in SSHRC funding
Concordia’s Luis Carlos Sotelo Castro has been awarded a $199,111 Partnership Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Sotelo Castro is an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and director of the Acts of Listening Lab, a research-creation lab at the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. The funding supports his research project, Orchestrating Listening Situations in Restorative Transitional Justice Initiatives (ORLI).
The project explores how listening can be used as a transformative tool in restorative justice and peacebuilding processes, particularly within transitional justice contexts. Transitional justice refers to legal and social mechanisms that help societies heal and move forward after periods of violent conflict or human rights violations.
The project aims to develop new models for listening that can enhance truth-seeking, accountability and reconciliation efforts in post-conflict societies.
“A practice that has often gone unnoticed and is now seeking recognition is the art of orchestrating listening situations within restorative transitional justice initiatives,” Sotelo Castro explains. “This art involves crafting spaces where people can come together and listen to one another in ways that are aligned with the core goals of restorative justice — such as healing, truth-seeking and reconciliation.”
A key focus of the project is orchestrating listening situations where members of a community impacted by conflict — victims, offenders and community members — can come together to listen to one another respectfully. These listening situations are designed to foster understanding, healing and dialogue in line with restorative justice principles, such as voluntariness, empowerment and compassionate listening.
Luis Carlos Sotelo Castro: “A practice that has often gone unnoticed is the art of orchestrating listening situations within restorative transitional justice initiatives.”
‘We are aiming to impact various sectors’
The ORLI brings together a diverse team of experts, including those in oral history performance, restorative justice, law, human rights and Indigenous studies. The group aims to create conceptual and practical models for listening within transitional justice initiatives in Colombia, Canada and beyond.
“We are aiming to impact various sectors, including state-led, educational and arts-based initiatives to help create safer spaces for listening, which will ultimately contribute to peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts,” Sotelo Castro adds.
The project builds on the understanding that recovery from social suffering requires both institutional and alternative, arts-based spaces for communities to work through the emotions, needs, and memories associated with mass structural violence. It explores the role of oral histories, performance creation and choral singing in facilitating listening and dialogue, particularly in the context of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP), a Colombian war crimes tribunal.
Using digital sound archives of the SJP’s proceedings to engage a broader audience — including displaced Colombians living abroad — the group will test their approach with the hope of expanding transitional justice dialogues.
The SSHRC funding will allow the Acts of Listening Lab to collaborate with several international partners, including institutions in Colombia and Canada, to develop new models for using testimonial performance to facilitate listening in restorative justice and peacebuilding contexts.
Learn more about the Acts of Listening Lab at Concordia.
