We Shall Bear Witness: Life Narratives and Human Rights

332 Pages·2014·2.05 MB·English

by  Meg Jensen (editor), Margaretta Jolly (editor)

UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pagei
We Shall Bear Wit ness
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pageii
Wis con sin Stud ies in Auto biog ra phy
­william­l.­an­drews
Se ries Ed i tor
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pageiii
We Shall Bear Wit ness
Life Nar ra tives and Human Rights
Ed ited by
meg­ jen­sen­
­
and
mar­ga­retta­ jolly
The Univ er sity of Wis con sin Press
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pageiv
The Uni ver sity of Wis cons in Press
1930 Mon roe Street, 3rd Floor
Mad i son, Wis cons in 53711-2059
uw press.wisc.edu
3 Hen rietta Street
Lon don WC2E 8LU, En gland
eu ros pan book store.com
Copy right © 2014
The Board of Re gents of the Uni ver sity of Wis con sin System
All rights reserved. Except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any
format or by any means—digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—
or conveyed via the Internet or a website without written permission of the University of Wisconsin
Press. Rights inquiries should be directed to [email protected].
Printed in the United States of Ameri ca
Li brary of Con gress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
We shall bear wit ness: life nar ra tives and human rights /
ed ited by Meg Jen sen and Marg a retta Jolly.
pages cm — (Wis con sin stud ies in auto biog ra phy)
In cludes bib lio graph i cal ref er ences and index.
ISBN 978-0-299-30014-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-299-30013-5 (e-book)
1. Human rights. 2. Es says. 3. Human rights in lit er a ture.
4. Human rights in art. 5. Human rights—Study and teach ing.
I. Jen sen, Meg, ed i tor of com pi la tion. II. Jolly, Mar ga retta, ed i tor of com pi la tion.
III. Se ries: Wis con sin stud ies in auto biog ra phy.
JC571.W3 2014
323—dc23
2013043104
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pagev
We ded i cate this vol ume to the wit nesses, sur vi vors, and ac ti vists
who have so gen er ously shared their sto ries in this book, emin­milli,­
na­zeeha­saeed,­and hec­tor­­aristizbal.
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pagevi
And you, my friends who have been called away,
I have been spared to mourn for you and weep,
Not as a fro zen wil low over your mem ory,
But to cry to the world the names of those who sleep.
anna­akh­ma­tova
Sto ries can con quer fear, you know. They can make the heart
larger.
ben­okri
It is not the voice that com mands the story: it is the ear.
italo­cal­vino
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pagevii
Con tents
Forew ord: Life Stor ies in a Human Rights Con text ix
mary­rob­in­son
Ac knowl edg ments xi
Intro duc tion: Life/R ights Nar ra tive in Ac tion 3
mar­ga­retta­jolly
Part One. Tes ti mony
I-Witness 25
an­nette­kobak
Be yond Nar ra tive: The Shape of Trau matic Test i mony 32
molly­an­drews
The Golden Cage: The Story of an Ac ti vist 48
emin­milli
The Price of Words 53
na­zeeha­saeed
Out of the Inner Wild er ness: Tor ture and Heal ing 61
hec­tor­­aristizbal­and­diane­lefer
Part Two. Rec og ni tion
Rec og ni tion 77
eva­hoff­man
Pro tec tion 80
gil­lian­whit­lock
The Jus tice of Lis teni ng: Jap a nese Lep rosy Seg re ga tion 100
mi­chio­miy­a­saka
Re im a gin ing the Crim i nal, Re con fig ur ing Jus tice 118
fi­nola­far­rant
vii
one line short
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pageviii
viii ­ Contents
Part Three. Rep re sen ta tion
“I Hear the Ap proach ing Thunder”:
The Lyric Voice and Human Rights 137
pa­tri­cia­hampl
The Fict ional Is Po lit i cal: Forms of Ap peal
in Auto bio graph i cal Fic tion and Poetry 141
meg­jen­sen
Enter the King: Mar tin Lu ther King Jr., “Human Rights
Hero ism,” and Con tem po rary American Drama 158
brian­phill­ips
Té moign age and Re spon sibil ity in Photo/ Graphic Narr a tives
of Méde cins Sans Frontières 175
alex­an­dra­schul­theis­moore
Rep re sent ing Human Rights Vio la tions in Multi me dia Con texts 196
ka­trina­m.­pow­ell
Part Four. Jus tice
Sugar Dad dies or Agents for Change? Com mu nity Arts Work ers
and Jus tice for Girls “Who Just Want to Go to School” 217
julia­wat­son
E-witnessing in the Dig i tal Age 223
kay­schaf­fer­and­sid­o­nie­smith
“Face book Is Like a Re li gion Around Here”: Voices from
the “Arab Spring” and the Policy-Making Com mu nity 238
brian­bri­vati
The Im por tance of Tak ing and Bear ing Wit ness:
Re flec tions on Twenty Years as a Human Rights Law yer 257
mark­­muller
Part Five. Learn ing
Using Life Nar ra tive to Ex plore Human Rights Themes
in the Class room 267
brian­bri­vati,­meg­jen­sen,­mar­ga­retta­jolly,­and
alex­an­dra­schul­theis­moore
Con trib u tors 281
Index 287
UWP: Jensen & Jolly: We Shall Bear Witness pageix
Fore word
Life Stor ies in a Human Rights Con text
mary­robi­n­son
Human rights in creas ingly enter every as pect of the mod ern world, and the
day-to-day lives of peo ple in every coun try. Mile stones have in cluded the adop-
tion of the Con ven tion on the Elim i na tion of Dis crim i na tion against Women
(CEDAW) in 1979, the Conv en tion on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and the
World Con fer ence on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993. But im ple men ta tion
of rights is not with out con tro versy, and nei ther is it a steady tran si tion.
When I be came the United Na tions High Com mis sioner for Human Rights
in 1997, I drew at ten tion to the fact that even within the UN it self, in dis cus-
sions on peacek eep ing or dev elo p ment is sues, the human rights pers pec tive was
often omit ted or down played at the time. There has been some im prove ment,
but we have still not fully im ple mented an ex pli citly rights-based ap proach to
the Mil len nium De velo p ment Goals.
Many say that per sonal tes ti mo nies and life writ ings about the ex pe ri ence
of abuse and strug gle play a cru cial role in show ing not just the human cost but
also in cred ible re sil ience. It was im por tant to me as high com mis sioner to travel
to the places where vi o la tions of human rights were oc cur ring, lis ten to vic tims,
and try to help am plify their sto ries as di rect wit nesses of abuse. I re call viv idly
sit ting in Free town, Sierra Leone, with three young girls who had been cap tured
to gether with child sol diers dur ing the fight ing in 1999 and had be come sex
slaves to the boys and men of the rebel group. Their sto ries were hor rific, and
told with tears, but the three girls had es caped, and with sup port from the United
Na tions Children’s Fund (UNICEF) were now in school uni forms and about to
sit exams. Some how, they had the cou rage to put their lives back to gether.
The reas on I formed Re al iz ing Rights: The Eth i cal Glo bal iza tion In itia tive
was to put more em pha sis on eco nomic and so cial rights and to il lus trate how
to pro tect and pro mote them in prac tice. Worki ng with my col leagues and our
part ners in a num ber of African coun tries on rights to health and de cent work;
ix