CFP: Voice, Silence, Rupture. Gendered Testimonials in Transitional Justice (Deadline: May 2, 2016)
Call for Papers for Panel
Voice, Silence, Rupture. Gendered Testimonials in Transitional Justice
Susanne Buckley-Zistel & Johanna Mannergren Selimovic
This is CfP for a panel at the 2016 Network Conference of the Historical Dialogue, Justice and Memory Network which takes place in Amsterdam, 1st-3rd December 2016
http://historicaldialogues.org/2016-network-conference/
Recent contributions to the field of transitional justice highlight the importance of testimonials in institutions such as truth commissions and tribunals.
Our panel explores the topic from a gender perspective. We understand testimonials as forms of agency that may be articulated with a strong voice but also through silences, they constitute but also contest hegemonic meta-narratives, potentially providing a moment of rupture.
Our panel is thus interested in the agency of men and women in contexts of testifying human rights abuses. Importantly, though, we want to extend this focus on the spoken word beyond formal institutions, as witnessing and testimony are central in transitions from war to peace, not only as part of legal discourses but also as a means for broader claims of (gendered) subjectivity and recognition. Contributions can include work on aesthetic performances that seek to testify to past violations and that find expression in inter alia memorials, films, murals, websites or other forms of cultural production. Other testimonial sites of interest can be community-based practices and / or civil society initiatives.
Please sent your abstract of 300 words to both panel organisers by 2nd May 2016.
Susanne Buckley-Zistel
Professor for Peace and Conflict Studies
Center for Conflict Studies
Philipps University Marburg
s.buckley-zistel@staff.uni-marburg.de
Johanna Mannergren-Selimovic
Senior Research Fellow
Swedish Institute of International Affairs
Johanna.Mannergren@ui.se