Bearing Witness

Fiona C. Ross

Description

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?
Glossary

Introduction

1. Making The Subject

2. Testimonial Practices

3. The Self In Extremity

4. Narrative Threads

5. Considerations Of Harm

6. In Pursuit Of The Ordinary

7. Epilogue

Appendix A: South African Security Laws

Appendix B: Detention Data

References

Index

Sujets

• África
• Africa
• Science

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 décembre 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783715268
• Langue: English

Extrait

BEARING WITNESS
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Dr Katy Gardner, University of Sussex
Dr Jon P. Mitchell, University of Sussex
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BEARING WITNESS
Women and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa
F IONA C. R OSS
First published 2003
by PLUTO PRESS
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Fiona C. Ross 2003
The right of Fiona C. Ross to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 13: 978 0 7453 1891 2 paperback ISBN 10: 0 7453 1891 6 paperback ISBN 978 1 7837 1526 8 ePub ISBN 978 1 7837 1527 5 Mobi
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth EX10 9QG, England
Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Towcester
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CONTENTS
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1.
Making the Subject
2.
Testimonial Practices
3.
The Self in Extremity
4.
Narrative Threads
5.
Considerations of Harm
6.
In Pursuit of the Ordinary
7.
Epilogue
Appendix A: South African Security Laws
Appendix B: Detention Data
Glossary
Notes
References
Index
LIST OF TABLES
1.1
Relationship of testifiers to those about whom they testified
3.1
Women’s political identities as declared in specified public hearings
3.2
Womens’s primary political affiliations
B.1
State detention data, 1960–94
B.2
Detention data, 1960–94, according to extra-governmental sources
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Indebtedness and reciprocity are core to social life. While acknowledgements cannot and perhaps never should do full justice to the intellectual debts incurred and the relationships which provide emotional sustenance during research and writing, and while I don’t want to cancel my debts entirely, this page offers an opportunity to express thanks to particular people whose support has been invaluable in the making of this book.
The study on which the book is based was part of an ethnographic study of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission conducted by Professor Pamela Reynolds, then of the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. Her vision, determination, courage and intellectual stimulation have been inspirational and I am both grateful for her encouragement and glad to have worked with her.
My greatest thanks go to those with whom I worked closely in Zwelethemba: Nowi Khomba, Yvonne Khutwane, Nomeite Mfengu, Mirriam Moleleki, Neliswa Mroxiswa, Nokuzola Mtamo, Nothemba Ngcwecwe, Ntsoake Phelane, Noluthando Qaba, Thandiwe Silere, Ntombomzi Siwangaza, Nokwanda Tani, Xoliswa Tyawana, Vuyelwa Xuza, and Noluntu Zawukana. I also worked with some members of their families. I intruded on their time, their memories and their personal experiences – and on their kindness in allowing me to do so. I am especially grateful to Sylvia Khomba and Monica Qaba, who welcomed me into their homes, to Nana Khohlokoane and Xolile Dyabooi who assisted me in verifying data and obtaining permissions to conduct research, and to Mandoyi Tshandu for his assistance in arranging meetings. Mirriam Moleleki and Mawethu Bikane were important in establishing the initial contacts from which I generated my research network.
Thanks to all my colleagues, past and present, in the Department of Social Anthropology at UCT. Susan Levine gave freely of her knowledge of Zwelethemba and worked with me on a film about the young women with whom I worked, and Linda Waldman and Stuart Douglas read drafts of early chapters. I am grateful for Sally Frankental’s critical eye, kind support and generous comments. Patti Henderson, friend, artist, performer, political activist and anthropologist, was my intellectual companion and emotional support. Thank you, too, to Colleen Crawford Cousins and Lindy Wilson, to my family, particularly Andrew Ross and to a circle of supportive and caring friends, especially Delia Marshall, whose encouragement sustained me in draining times.
Anne Beech and the staff at Pluto Press have been enthusiastic about this project and wonderful to work with. Thanks to Sandie Vahl for the indexing.
Richard Wilson, Jane Taylor and Peter Geschiere commented on the work in its previous incarnation as a doctoral dissertation. I thank them for their enthusiasm, advice and criticism. I am grateful too, to anonymous reviewers of the manuscript proposal for their comments and encouragement. I have tried to incorporate some of the suggestions – omissions etc. of course reflect my own failing.
I am grateful to Ingrid de Kok for permission to use her poem, ‘Bandaged’; to the Cape Times for permission to use Roger Friedman’s article ‘ANC veteran tells of sexual abuse’ and to SAPA for permission to reprint the report ‘Woman tells truth body of sexual abuse’. The University of California Press granted me permission to use material earlier published in my paper ‘Speech and silence: women’s testimony in the first five weeks of public hearings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ in Veena Das, Remaking a World: Violence, Social Suffering and Recovery , copyright © 2001, the Regents of the University of California. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission granted permission to cite from its Report. Geoff Grundlingh’s wonderful photographic exhibition of Zwelethemba and its youth activists remains inspirational and I am grateful for the cover picture that he provided.
And finally, thanks to Andy Hackland, whose love, support and caring sustained me during emotionally exhausting and intellectually challenging research, and whose critical engagement helped me better to envisage the import of both the TRC process and the roles of those who opposed the apartheid regime.
INTRODUCTION
An ear for this, an ear for that. Who to believe? … The struggle for truth continues ever afterwards. Because afterwards is where we live … Afterwards is where stories begin. (Nicol, 1995: 1)
As part of the effort to reorganise states and social institutions in the aftermath of violent or authoritarian political formations, recent decades have seen the emergence of new forms of enquiry. Alongside trials, tribunals, commissions of enquiry, courts-martial and other institutionalised forms, ‘transitional justice’, drawing on human rights discourse, has emerged as a mechanism in establishing democratic states. Within its ambit, phenomena glossed as ‘Truth Commissions’ are becoming important means by which political formations legitimate themselves and create a new sense of belonging (Wilson 1996, 2001). To date, 21 such commissions have been held world-wide (Hayner 2001), a number more have been mooted, and the model has been adapted and adopted in certain instances by the United Nations.
Truth commissions link together complex ideas about suffering, justice, human rights, accountability, history and witnessing. Alongside legal practices, they involve and invoke memorial and narrative practices that have important effects in shaping understandings and sculpting new social possibilities. The South African Trut