Event overview
María-José Gámez-Fuentes Universitat Jaume I (Castellón, Spain)
The concern about eradicating violence against women is not new in the global agenda. From grassroots movements to institutionalized feminist policies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), women’s organizations and initiatives have sought not only to address direct violence, but also to transform the conceptual frameworks that sustain it (Gámez Fuentes, 2013).
In this context, specialized literature coincides in indicating how media have contributed to the visibility of the problem, signaling a commitment to raise awareness. However such visibility has not implied a real transformation of the hegemonic framework related to women as victims. Butler and Athanasiou (2013) assert that the normative and normalizing powers that regulate the distribution of vulnerability, favor discourses of victimhood over discourses of political claims and confrontations.
Our aim is to explore which kind of communication can overcome that hegemonic frame of recognition. For this purpose we rely on the concept of “ethical witnessing” proposed by Oliver (2001 & 2004) and Kaplan (2005). They emphasize the need to address the other as a speaking subject (Butler & Athanasiou, 2013) and not simply recognize and attempt to understand him/her. This approach, thus, focuses on our response-ability towards others, this being understood as a capacity, and as a responsibility, to respond. This relation, between our responsiveness and our responsibility constitutes the threshold of our enquiry into how discourses can articulate the role of the witness.
Butler, J. y Athanasiou, A. (2013): Dispossession: The performative in the political, New York: Wiley.
Gámez Fuentes, M. J. (2013): “Re-framing the subject(s) of gender violence”, Peace Review, 25:3, 398-405.
Kaplan, A. (2005): Trauma Culture. The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers University Press.
Oliver, K. (2001): Witnessing beyond Recognition, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- (2004): “Witnessing and Testimony”, Parallax, 10:1, 79-88.
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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2 Jun 2016 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm |
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