| Description |
1 online resource (viii, 206 pages). |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Series |
Anthropology, culture, and society
|
|
Anthropology, culture, and society.
|
| Contents |
Making the subject -- Testimonial practices -- The self in extremity -- Narrative threads -- Considerations of harm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 190-199) and index. |
| Summary |
People who witness acts of terror and violence are often called after the event to bear witness to what they saw. In cases where this violence is inflicted by the state upon its own people, the process of bearing witness is both politically complex and traumatic for the individual involved. Independent trials and commissions have become important mechanisms through which the truth of past violence is sought in democratising states, but to date there has been little close attention to the processes and complexity of the work of such institutions. Fiona Ross's fascinating study of the process of bearing witness is the first book to examine the gendered dimensions of this topic from an anthropological and ethnographic viewpoint. Taking as a key example the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, Ross explores women's relationships to testimony, particularly the extent to which women avoid talking about or are silent about certain forms of violence and suffering. Offering a wealth of first-hand examples, Ross approaches a more subtle understanding of the achievements and the limitations of testimony as a measure of suffering and recovery generally. Is it, she asks, the panacea it is usually seen as? Or do conventional discourses on human rights, suffering and reconciliation oversimplify an altogether more complex and problematic process? |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
|
|
South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission. |
|
South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission. |
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Südafrika <Staat> / Wahrheits- und Versöhnungkommission. |
|
Women -- Crimes against -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century.
|
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Women -- Crimes against. |
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South Africa. |
|
History. |
| Chronological Term |
20th century |
| Subject |
Women social reformers -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century.
|
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Women social reformers. |
|
Social perception -- Sex differences -- South Africa.
|
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Social perception -- Sex differences. |
|
Social perception. |
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Oral communication -- Social aspects -- South Africa.
|
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Oral communication -- Social aspects. |
|
Oral communication. |
|
Apartheid -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century.
|
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Apartheid. |
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Human rights -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century.
|
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Human rights. |
| Chronological Term |
1900 - 1999 |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
|
|
History.
|
| Subject |
Women. |
|
Womyn. |
|
Human rights. |
| Other Form: |
Print version: Ross, Fiona C. Bearing witness. London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 2003 0745318924 0745318916 (DLC) 2002008376 (OCoLC)49905476 |
| ISBN |
9781849641500 (electronic book) |
|
1849641501 (electronic book) |
|
0585488703 (electronic book) |
|
9780585488707 (electronic book) |
|
0745318924 |
|
9780745318929 |
|
0745318924 (hardback) |
|
9780745318929 (hardback) |
|
0745318916 (paperback) |
|
9780745318912 (paperback) |
| Standard No. |
9780745318929 |
|
