Future of Testimony Conference, Salford, 11-12 August

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

• Professor Shoshana Felman (Emory University)
• Professor Cathy Caruth (Emory University)
• Professor Carolyn Dean (Brown University)
• Professor Michael Rothberg (University of Illinois)
• Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge (University of East Anglia)
• Professor Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London)

This international conference comprises the final event in the AHRC-funded research network 'The Future of Testimony' and invites speculation on the possible future constitution of, and critical responses to, the interdisciplinary nature of testimony.

The study of testimony was pioneered by Holocaust scholars, but in what ways will critics respond to the testimony of more recent genocides? Do the insights generated in respect of the historical trauma of the Holocaust translate into contemporary contexts? And how should we understand the recent turn to perpetrator testimony: Who are these perpetrators? And how is s/he modulated in relation to the concepts of complicity and collaboration?

The conference also invites reflection on the ways in which testimony is demanded by a range of institutions, including not only the law and clinic, but increasingly immigration and asylum centres. To what degree is the imperative to testify to one's suffering now a question of bureaucratic threat?

Contact Jane Kilby j.e.kilby@salford.ac.uk

http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1332