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Truth Poster

This document announces a two-day workshop on the ontology of witnessing after war. The workshop will discuss theoretical issues around bearing witness, testifying, and recognizing truth. It will use short readings from works dealing with testimony and truth, including books by Derrida, Blanchot, Arendt, Kwon, and Das. Interested students and faculty should submit a one-page statement of interest by September 16th to be considered for one of 10 spots. Selected participants will read the materials and submit a 2-page memo for discussion at the workshop sessions on October 2nd and 3rd, 2015 at LUMS.

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Sehar Sajjad
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94 views

Truth Poster

This document announces a two-day workshop on the ontology of witnessing after war. The workshop will discuss theoretical issues around bearing witness, testifying, and recognizing truth. It will use short readings from works dealing with testimony and truth, including books by Derrida, Blanchot, Arendt, Kwon, and Das. Interested students and faculty should submit a one-page statement of interest by September 16th to be considered for one of 10 spots. Selected participants will read the materials and submit a 2-page memo for discussion at the workshop sessions on October 2nd and 3rd, 2015 at LUMS.

Uploaded by

Sehar Sajjad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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truth &

testimony
A WORKSHOP ON THE ONTOLOGY
OF A WITNESS AFTER WAR

MANAN AHMED is a historian of Islam


in South Asia at Columbia University.
[email protected]

MADIHA TAHIR is a PhD candidate at


Columbia University researching media
and war, and an independent journalist
[email protected]

One testifies only when one has lived longer than what has come to pass. wrote
Derrida in his commentary on Maurice Blanchots "L'Instant de ma mort (1994, The
Instant of My Death). Yet, what does it mean to listen to that testimony? What of those
asked to bear witness? This workshop tackles a set of theoretical concerns about
being, about being witness to, about testifying for, and about recognizing truth.
These theoretical concerns underpin our contemporary lives for they govern how we
reconcile victims of warslegal or covert and their claims to justice.

The workshop will be a two day seminar-style meeting with a short reading list of
ethnographic works dealing with issues of testimony, and truth. The reading list
includes Maurice Blanchots The Instant of My Death, Hannah Arendts Eichmann in
Jerusalem, Heonik Kwons Ghosts of War in Vietnam, and Veena Dass Life and Words:
Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary.

OCTOBER 2 & 3, 2015


Department of Humanities and
Social Sciences.

Mustaq Gurmani School of


Humanities and Social Sciences,
LUMS

We ask that interested students and faculty write a brief one page statement of
interest, with their intellectual profile, and submit to [email protected] by
September 16, 2015. Please include your full name, the name of your university or
college and your academic status (whether you are a BA, MA or PhD student or faculty
and in which discipline). Tell us why this course interests you. We aim to select 10
participants.

Selected participants will be expected to read all of the assigned texts before the
workshop, prepare a 2-page memo on the readings and come prepared to discuss
and engage. The workshop will consist of four two hour sessions on the afternoon of
October 2nd and October 3rd, 2015 at LUMS.

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