Beyond Testimony and Trauma

Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence

Edited by Steven High
Categories: Political Science, Social Sciences, Sociology, Security, Peace & Conflict Studies
Series: Shared: Oral and Public History
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774828925, 388 pages, March 2015
Paperback : 9780774828932, 388 pages, November 2015
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774828949, 388 pages, March 2015
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774828956, 388 pages, March 2015
Ebook (MobiPocket) : 9780774829861, 388 pages, December 2016
View Table of Contents

Table of contents

Introduction

 

Part 1: The Political Work of Witness

 

1 The Ex-Disappeared in Post-Dictatorship Argentina: The Work of Testimony and Survivors at the Margins / Ari Gandsman

 

2 Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will: Engaging with the “Testimony” of Injured Workers / Robert Storey

 

3 The Ethics of Learning from Rwandan Survivor Communities: Critical Reflexivity and the Politics of Knowledge Production in Genocide Education / Lisa Taylor, Umwali Sollange, and Marie-Jolie Rwigema

 

4 The Role of Oral History in Surviving a Eugenic Past / Robert A. Wilso

 

Part 2: Working with Survivors

 

5 From Testimony to Recounting: Reflections from Forty Years of Listening to Holocaust Survivors / Henry Greenspan

 

6 Collaborative Witnessing and Sharing Authority in Conversations with Holocaust Survivors / Carolyn Ellis and Jerry Rawicki

 

7 Sharing “A Big Kettle of Soup”: Compassionate Listening with a Holocaust Survivor / Chris Patti

 

8 “Questions Are More Important than Answers”: Creating Collaborative Workshop Spaces with Holocaust Survivor-Educators in Montreal / Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki

 

9 On Tour with Mapping Memories: Sharing Refugee Youth Stories in Montreal Classrooms / Michele Luchs and Elizabeth Miller

 

Part 3: Acts of Composure and Framing

 

10 Economic Violence, Occupational Disability, and Death: Oral Narratives of the Impact of Asbestos-Related Diseases in Britain / Arthur McIvor

 

11 The Frames We Use: Narratives, Ethnicity, and the Problem of Multiple Identities in Post-Conflict Oral Histories (Bosnia-Herzegovina) / Catherine Baker

 

12 Memories of Departures: Stories of Jews from Muslim Lands in Montreal / Yolande Cohen, Martin Messika, and Sara Cohen Fournier

 

13 Finding Meaning in Oral History Sources through Storytelling and Religion / Marie A. Pelletier

 

Afterword / Henry Greenspan

Index

Description

Survivors of terrible events are often portrayed as unsung heroes or tragic victims but rarely as complex human beings whose lives extend beyond the stories they have told. The contributors to Beyond Testimony and Trauma consider other ways to engage with survivors and their accounts based on valuable insights gained from their work on long-term oral history projects. While the contexts vary widely, they demonstrate that through deep listening, long-term relationship building, and collaborative research design, it is possible to move beyond the problematic aspects of “testimony” to shine a light on the more nuanced lives of survivors of mass violence.