Description
Book SynopsisThis book demonstrates a new, interdisciplinary approach to life writing about torture that situates torture firmly within its socio-political context, as opposed to extending the long line of representations written in the idiom of the proverbial dark chamber. By dismantling the rhetorical divide that typically separates survivors’ suffering from human rights workers’ expertise, contributors engage with the personal, professional, and institutional dimensions of torture and redress. Essays in this volume consider torture from diverse locations – the Philippines, Argentina, Sudan, and Guantánamo, among others. From across the globe, contributors witness both individual pain and institutional complicity; the challenges of building communities of healing across linguistic and national divides; and the role of the law, art, writing, and teaching in representing and responding to torture.
Trade Review“I would strongly recommend this book to anyone working in the field of life narrative. … I am very glad that I did, because it forced me to shift my understanding of the work that I do—for the better, I hope.” (Annie Pohlman, Biography, Vol. 42 (4), 2019)
Table of ContentsPart I Torture in Context and Translation
1 Torture: The Catastrophe of a Bond
Carlos Alberto Arestivo
2 Torture in an Historical Context: Notes from Sudan
Mohamed Elgadi
3 The Unspeakable Agony of Inflicted Pain: Torture,
Betrayal, Redress
Robert Francis Garcia
4 Translating Trauma, Witnessing Survival
Laurie Ball Cooper
Part II Witnessing Torture and Recovery: Survivors, Health
Professionals, Institutions
5 The Role of Health Professionals in Torture Treatment
Linda A. Piwowarczyk
6 Assessing the Treatment of Torture: Balancing
Quantifiable with Intangible Metrics
Orlando P. Tizon
7 The Little Red Cabinet of Tears: The Impact upon
Treatment Providers of Bearing Witness to Torture
Judy B. Okawa
8 Beyond Institutional Betrayal: When the Professional Is
Personal 111
Ellen Gerrity
Part III Disappearance and Torture, Redress and
Representation
9 Everardo and the CIA’s Long-Term Torture Practices
Jennifer Harbury
10 Survivors and the Origin of the Convention
for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance
Patricio Rice
11 The Tenacity of Memory: Art in the Aftermath
of Atrocity
Claudia Bernardi
12 Teaching about Torture, or, Reading between the Lines
in the Humanities
Madelaine Hron
13 Legal Appeal: Habeas Lawyers Narrate Guantánamo Life
Terri Tomsky
14 Did We Survive Torture?
Mansoor Adayfi
Epilogue: From Solitude to Solidarity
Index
