This presentation draws on research that I have been doing in South
Africa in two spheres. The first of these is South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (TRC), in which victims of apartheid violence told their stories
to create a hearing for these victims and to educate the broader South
African population concerning the gross human rights violations (GHRVs)
that took place during that era. The second setting is in the private home
of women who have long been inhabitants of Soweto. Each of these settings
constitutes a dramatic forum with distinct conventions in terms of setting,
rituals of storytelling and body language. The differential construction
of these spaces both curtails and enables the recognition of certain sorts
of identity, suggesting that victim-survivors may require different settings
for the relation of their particular experience. The national, public space
of the TRC has certainly been a productive locus for some; but the creation
of an audience for those whom the TRC proceedings overlooked or did not,
by virtue of the TRC’’s mandate, accommodate is urgently required in post-apartheid
South Africa. This paper introduces the prospect of staging such spaces
of listening.
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