Special Issue on Human Rights Rhetoric: Traditions of Testifying and Witnessing

Arabella Lyon University at Buffalo, State University of New York ; Lester C. Olson University of Pittsburgh

Abstract

Rhetoric scholars have developed approaches to both civil and human rights as political, ethical, and academic discourses. Such approaches include examining the development and reproduction of hierarchies, the politics of representation, and the relationships among symbols, audiences consisting of disparate communities, rights, and rights events. After an overview of rhetorical contributions, as well as risks and limitations of a rhetoric approach to human rights, this introduction turns to the focus of the special issue: testifying and witnessing as a way to scrutinize the roles of bystanders to rights atrocities and the responses of listeners who may be rights committed or not.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2011-05-01
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2011.575321
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

References (45)

  1. 10.2307/1354221
  2. Austin , J. L.How To Do Things With Words. (1962) Cambridge , Mass : Harvard University Press , 1975 . Print .
  3. Ballengee , Jennifer R.The Wound and the Witness: The Rhetoric of Torture. Albany : SUNY Press , 2009 . Print .
  4. Beverly , John.Testimonio: On the Politics of Truth. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press , 2004 . Print .
  5. Bourdieu , Pierre.Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge , Mass : Harvard University Press , 1991 . Print .
Show all 45 →
  1. Brown , Wendy.Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire. Princeton , NJ : Princeton Un…
  2. The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action
  3. Burke , Kenneth.A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley : University of California Press , 1969 . Print .
  4. Caruth , Cathy.Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore : John Hopkins University Pres…
  5. 10.2307/2568613
  6. 10.1086/530153
  7. Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Cons…
  8. Daly , Mary.Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Boston : Beacon Press , 1990 . Print .
  9. Language, Communication, and Rhetoric in Black America
  10. Doxtader , Erik.Faith in the Work of Words: The Beginnings of Reconciliation in South Africa. East Lansing : …
  11. Dworkin , Andrea.Letters from a War Zone. New York : Lawrence Hill , 1993 . Print .
  12. Felman , Shoshona and Dori Laub . Ed.Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and Histo…
  13. Foster , Francis Smith .Witnessing Slavery: The Development of Ante-Bellum Slave Narratives., 2nd ed . Madiso…
  14. The Limits of Autobiography: Trauma and Testimony
  15. Hasian , Marouf.Rhetorical Vectors of Memory in National and International Holocaust Trials. East Lansing : M…
  16. ——— .In the Name of Necessity: Military Tribunals and the Loss of American Civil Liberties. Tuscaloosa : Univ…
  17. Just Advocacy? Women's Human Rights, Transnational Feminisms, and the Politics of Represe…
  18. Speech Communication in the Twentieth Century
  19. New York Times
  20. Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership
  21. Kennedy , David.The Dark Sides of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism. Princeton , NJ : Princet…
  22. Vital Speeches of the Day
  23. Woman as Witness: Essays on Testimonial Literature by Latin American Women
  24. 10.1111/j.1468-2885.1997.tb00146.x
  25. 10.1080/10646179109359734
    Howard Journal of Communication  
  26. 10.1080/00335639409384079
  27. Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local Justice
  28. Harvard International Law Journal
  29. NPR Staff. “Journalist Chronicles ‘Killing Fields’ of Juarez.” Morning Edition 1 April 2010. Web. 6 April 201…
  30. Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press . Web. 21 April 2010 .
  31. Rich , Adrienne . “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children (1968). ”Collected Early Poems, 1950–1970. New Yo…
  32. Human Rights and Genocide
  33. Ross , Rosetta E.Witnessing and Testifying: Black Women, Religion, and Civil Rights. Minneapolis : Fortress P…
  34. 10.1057/9781403973665
  35. Feminists Theorize the Political
  36. Spelman , Elizabeth.Fruits of Sorrow: Framing Our Attention to Suffering. Boston : Beacon , 1997 . Print .
  37. 10.1016/0277-5395(82)90048-6
  38. United Nations Bulletin
  39. Whalen , Lucille .Human Rights: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara , CA : ABC-CLIO , 1989 . 199 – 201 . Print .
  40. Wiesel , Elie. “The Perils of Indifference.” 12 April 1999. Millennium Lecture Series, East Room of the White…