ABSTRACT
I argued in Chapter 2 that the traumatized body of the victim becomes the starting point for the construction of subjectivity. The body’s narration of its tortured state, broken psyche and damaged ego becomes the very material basis for claiming protection and rights. However, what is immediately troubling about this argument is the assumption that if one does not narrate one’s suffering then one does not, also, make claims for HR either. In this chapter I plan to propose something that extends the arguments made Chapter 2, but in a slightly different direction. This chapter argues that narratives of HR violations may be read profitably as survivor/survival literature that offers us a certain visibility of the subject. It then goes on to explore how the subject ‘performs’ itself as a preliminary to establishing authenticity. This establishment of authenticity, I argue, is essential to the most crucial role a survivor-victim has in HR discourse — that of the witness. Witnessing, the core of this chapter, is the most indispensable element in HR narrative but, as I shall demonstrate, is not simply a process of seeing and reporting a violation.
