Witness and Testimonial

Read Carolyn Forche's article in Poetry magazine: "Reaeding the Living Archives: The Witness of Literary Art," discussed in class. Click on the following link for the online version of the article:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/article/241858

How does Forche's position help you reflect on Sarpa Satra and Heart of Darkness?

Post your response by Monday November 14. 

Race Matters: Friday, October 7

What emerges so far in the conversation regarding human rights and the postcolonial as you read Cesaire,Said, and Amitav Ghosh?  How do any of these writers contend with some of the issues surrounding race and scientific racism outlined by Loomba in her introduction to postcolonial studies? Are there any overlaps with the concerns expressed by Dawes about the politics and poetics of representation in human rights work, such as the (im)possibility of building empathy towards historically oppressed, enslaved, or marginalized constituencies by those who claim to speak for them?

These questions are broad and generally designed to target and steer the ongoing discussion in the course. Focus on any one strand of thought or line of inquiry that animates you, and anchor your summary and  reflection in details from particular passages that relate to your questions.

Please post your response as a comment here by Monday October 10 and well before 11.30 am.

Storytelling and Human Rights: Wednesday, September 28

In "Human Rights in Literary Studies," James Dawes claims that “human rights work is, at its heart, a matter of storytelling” (394). He considers the relationship between literary studies and human rights discourse in the article through a series of related paradoxes: beauty, truth, description, suffering, and witnessing.

Respond to the article's claims in 200-500 words, and consider its relationship to the idea of compassionate storytelling as articulated in the TED talk we saw in class:

http://www.ted.com/talks/ryan_lobo_through_the_lens_of_compassion.html

Works Cited

Dawes, James. "Human Rights in Literary Studies." Human Rights Quarterly. 31:2 (May 2009). 394-409.