ABSTRACT
The archive serves as a repository or 'storehouse' of what needs to be gathered and recognised so that it can be left behind in order to inaugurate the future. The archive mani-fests law's authority and its troubled conscience. Those who are put in the place of the hearer of testimony may be constrained to adhere to the facts of the case or the established laws and procedures. An institution designed for hearing may use procedures that silence some stories, and even when a resistant story gets told and, miraculously, heard, the larger world may not be willing to hear it for what it is. The main objective of a TRC hearing on Human Rights Violations was to gather information on sexual abuses. When a speaker speaks in an institution designed for hearing, and an audience empowered to listen hears something other than what Eve Sedgwick says, it can be difficult to determine who is responsible for failed communication.
