Abstract
In this article I use Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s existential phenomenology as a method for presenting
a disclosing critique of aphonia as the loss of a political voice of one’s own. I claim that aphonia is
a phenomenon that is qualitatively different from a lack of opportunities for democratic
participation and a lack of the communicative capabilities required for effective political
participation. I give examples from sociological literature on social exclusion and political apathy,
and then diagnose them using Merleau-Ponty’s concepts of operative intentionality and the lived
body. A picture emerges of aphonia as the diminishing of the expressive modality of the lived
body. This can lead to the inability to perceive oneself as a capable public speaker and the public
realm as a welcoming field of possibilities for political engagement. I propose that democratic
theory should consider the way that the negative social experiences of social marginalization can
diminish, or even completely take away, the capability to authentically give a voice to one’s
experiences in public on one’s own terms. I conclude with a call for grass-roots alternatives towards
engendering political participation among marginalized groups through a “therapeutic” approach to
political inclusion.