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Article published In: Critical Linguistic Perspectives on Coping with Traumatic Pasts: Case studies
Edited by Christine Anthonissen and Jan Blommaert †
[Journal of Language and Politics 5:1] 2006
► pp. 111–124

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Linguistic Bearings and Testimonial Practices

 | University of Cape Town
Published online: 14 April 2006
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.5.1.07ros
The paper considers women’s testimonies before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, tracing the complexities of speaking about suffering. A growing literature suggests that violence and horror corrupt language and interrupt its flow. Testimonial practices focused on violence’s recall then occupy unstable grounds. Arguing that testimony is mediated by the subject positions from which women speak and that these are shaped by cultural convention, the paper traces the effects of ‘modes of discomfort’, drawing attention to the faultlines between words and experience when violence is recalled.
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Helman, Sara
2015. Challenging the Israeli Occupation Through Testimony and Confession: the Case of Anti-Denial SMOs Machsom Watch and Breaking the Silence. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 28:4 ► pp. 377 ff. DOI logo

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