“You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide Guatemala
Since the Guatemalan genocide against Maya populations (1981-1983), domestic and international human rights groups have organized truth commissions, forensic exhumations, and legal cases. These efforts to secure justice have achieved minimal success, prompting a reconsideration of the relationship a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Association of Genocide Scholars
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol12/iss2/4 |
| _version_ | 1819036152683823104 |
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| author | Lacey M. Schauwecker |
| author_facet | Lacey M. Schauwecker |
| author_sort | Lacey M. Schauwecker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the Guatemalan genocide against Maya populations (1981-1983), domestic and international human rights groups have organized truth commissions, forensic exhumations, and legal cases. These efforts to secure justice have achieved minimal success, prompting a reconsideration of the relationship among narrative testimony, visual testimony, and institutional standards of truth.
Engaging the ideas of visual studies scholar, Nicholas Mirzoeff, I argue for the political importance of testimony that is critical of such standards, including those enforced by human rights’ legal paradigm. Following Mirzoeff’s understandings of “visuality” and “countervisuality,” I analyze “visual testimony” as that which acknowledges the dynamic interplay between word and image, as well as various power relations. More specifically, I explore how genocide survivor Rigoberta Menchú and performance artist Regina José Galindo employ this type of testimony to express rage, which I associate with witnesses’ right to testify on their own terms, beyond institutional processes and imperatives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T08:00:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c68f525597ed477bbf575178d8571243 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1911-0359 1911-9933 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T08:00:59Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | International Association of Genocide Scholars |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-c68f525597ed477bbf575178d85712432022-12-21T19:10:55ZengInternational Association of Genocide ScholarsGenocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal1911-03591911-99332018-10-01122183410.5038/1911-9933.12.2.1529“You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide GuatemalaLacey M. Schauwecker0University of Southern CaliforniaSince the Guatemalan genocide against Maya populations (1981-1983), domestic and international human rights groups have organized truth commissions, forensic exhumations, and legal cases. These efforts to secure justice have achieved minimal success, prompting a reconsideration of the relationship among narrative testimony, visual testimony, and institutional standards of truth. Engaging the ideas of visual studies scholar, Nicholas Mirzoeff, I argue for the political importance of testimony that is critical of such standards, including those enforced by human rights’ legal paradigm. Following Mirzoeff’s understandings of “visuality” and “countervisuality,” I analyze “visual testimony” as that which acknowledges the dynamic interplay between word and image, as well as various power relations. More specifically, I explore how genocide survivor Rigoberta Menchú and performance artist Regina José Galindo employ this type of testimony to express rage, which I associate with witnesses’ right to testify on their own terms, beyond institutional processes and imperatives.https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol12/iss2/4Guatemalagenocidevisual testimonyhuman rightsrage |
| spellingShingle | Lacey M. Schauwecker “You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide Guatemala Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal Guatemala genocide visual testimony human rights rage |
| title | “You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide Guatemala |
| title_full | “You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide Guatemala |
| title_fullStr | “You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide Guatemala |
| title_full_unstemmed | “You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide Guatemala |
| title_short | “You Could See Rage”: Visual Testimony in Post-Genocide Guatemala |
| title_sort | you could see rage visual testimony in post genocide guatemala |
| topic | Guatemala genocide visual testimony human rights rage |
| url | https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol12/iss2/4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT laceymschauwecker youcouldseeragevisualtestimonyinpostgenocideguatemala |