Witnessing and Testimony as Event

Abstract

This article shows that human rights NGOs sustain their relevance not by producing testimony texts and witness subject positions, but rather through the social and performative dimensions of events in which witnessing is transformed into testimony. The interactional dimensions between witness and documenter are usually omitted from textual representations due to NGOs’ rigid bureaucratic writing, and are also largely overlooked by scholars. Witnessing and testimony are analysed as spatiotemporal sites and occasions of contending with violence and colonialism. Through the peculiar case of Palestinian witnesses and Israeli NGOs’ sustained commitment to witnessing and testimony, despite shared acknowledgement of the failures of human rights, the event is theorized as malleable enough to be reshaped by its participants. These additional interactional layers may undermine the very logics of human rights witnessing and testimony.

Bureaucratizing like a girl: Objectivity and the reinforcement of patriarchy at an Israeli government committee

“…This works to the advantage of bureaucracies, as it bifurcates the organization and its constituents and makes it more difficult to petition against its actions (Gupta, 2012; Weber, 1978, 992 on this ideal type). This is certainly the case of Israeli bureaucracy, particularly concerning its power over Palestinians’ lives (Berda, 2017; Bishara, 2015; Grinberg, 2021) but also toward the Israeli population (Kravel‐Tovi, 2017; Lavie, 2014).…”

“…Eliminating their positionality, however, did not end with writing the data files, as staffers also have to give an oral presentation of the files during Sal Committee's meetings. In this part of their work, maintaining non-positional objectivity was even more challenging as it presented more opportunities for disclosing a position either in words or merely by one's gestures (e.g., Grinberg, 2021;Humphrey, 2008;Kravel-Tovi, 2017).…”