5 | Trauma, Testimony + Silence

February 4
In this class, we are introduced to the modalities and challenges of testimony after atrocity. What is truth? How does trauma shape testimony (Laab, Strejilevich)? What are the different purposes of testimony, and for whom? How is silence a form of agency, testimony and social repair (Ross + Kent)? Please do each reading carefully, taking note of these questions.

Content Note (CN): Sexual Violence/Apartheid

Readings (confirmed)

  1. Dori Laub. “Bearing Witness or the Vicissitudes of Listening.” In Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub (eds.). Testimony: Crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis, and history. (1992): 57-74. UBC Library (Online Book) (17pg)
  2. Strejilevich, Nora. “Testimony: Beyond the language of truth.” Human Rights Quarterly 28.3 (2006): 701-713. (12pg)
  3. Ross, Fiona. “An acknowledged failure: Women, voice, violence, and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” In Rosalind Shaw et. al. Localizing transitional justice: Interventions and priorities after mass violence (2010): 69-91. UBC Library (Online Book) (22pg)
  4. Lia Kent (2016) Sounds of Silence: Everyday Strategies of
    Social Repair in Timor-Leste, Australian Feminist Law Journal, 42:1, 31-50, DOI:
    10.1080/13200968.2016.1175403 (19pg)

Bonus:  “Mookherjee, Nayanika, and Najmunnahar Keya. “Birangona: Towards ethical testimonies of sexual violence during conflict.” (2019). – a short comic strip

 

Further Reading

  1. Wieviorka, Annette. The era of the witness. Cornell University Press, 2006.
  2. María Paula Prada Ramírez, Leslie Wingender, Listening and Preparing the Society to Engage: The Case of the Colombian Truth Commission and Its Legacy Strategy, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2024;, ijae042, https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijae042
  3. Jelin, Elizabeth. 2003. State Repression and the Labours of Memory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. Chapter 5, ‘Trauma, Testimony and Truth’ pp. 60-75. UBC Library (Online Book)
  4. Martín de Almagro, María, Priscyll Anctil Avoine, and Yira Miranda Montero. “Singing truth to power: Transformative (gender) justice, musical spatialities and creative performance in periods of transition from violence.” Security Dialogue (2024): 09670106241232265.
  5. Counterstorytelling as epistemic justice: Decolonial community‐based praxis from the global south
  6. Koomen, Jonneke. ““Without These Women, the Tribunal Cannot Do Anything”: The politics of witness testimony on sexual violence at the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 38.2 (2013): 253-277.
  7. Podcast: This American Life, Anatomy of Doubt (CN: SA)
  8. Ross, Fiona. “An acknowledged failure: Women, voice, violence, and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” In Rosalind Shaw et. al. Localizing transitional justice: Interventions and priorities after mass violence (2010): 69-91. UBC Library (Online Book)
  9. Mariane Hirsh, 2024. https://www.publicbooks.org/rethinking-holocaust-memory-after-octor-7 Rethinking Holocaust Memory after October 7
  10. Motsemme, Nthabiseng. “The mute always speak: On women’s silences at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” Current Sociology 52.5 (2004): 909-932.
  11. Judith Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of political violence – from domestic abuse to political terror. Chapter 1,6,7
  12. Sacco, Joe. 2009. Footnotes in Gaza. New York: Metropolitan Books. Henry Holt and Company, pp. 3-35; 252-281
  13. Angela Santamaría, Dunen Muelas, Paula Caceres, Wendi Kuetguaje, Julian Villegas, Decolonial Sketches and Intercultural Approaches to Truth: Corporeal Experiences and Testimonies of Indigenous Women in Colombia, International Journal of Transitional Justice, Volume 14, Issue 1, March 2020, Pages 56–79, https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijz034
  14. Woods, Kerri. “Refugees’ stories: Empathy, agency, and solidarity.” Journal of Social Philosophy 51.4 (2020): 507-525.
  15. María Paula Prada Ramírez, Leslie Wingender, Listening and Preparing the Society to Engage: The Case of the Colombian Truth Commission and Its Legacy Strategy, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2024;, ijae042, https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijae042

Presentation

Conflict Textiles (Chilean Arpilleras, Afghan War Carpets, see examples on website Conflict Textiles: https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles/)

or

Artist: Jordan Scott,  Lanterns over Guantanamo Bay