That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocity, by James Dawes, examines the role of storytelling in addressing, and communicating, the horrific events of the many atrocities that happen around the world. As Dawes states at the beginning of his Introduction, “The events described in this book help to answer two important questions: How do we make comprehensible stories out of incomprehensible atrocities? And what are the ethical risks of doing so?” (Dawes 1). The conceptual framework of Dawes book rests on four posts: “the ethics of storytelling, the difference storytelling makes, the ethics of human rights and humanitarian work, and the difference this work makes ” (Dawes 7). While Dawes examines each of these issues in detail, the most important for the purpose of the prompt for this blog post is: the ethics of storytelling.
In considering the PSA, our group produced earlier in the semester, the purposely insensitive and insulting interview questions we posed to our subjects point out how easy it is to approach storytelling from a fundamentally flawed perspective. As our PSA asks in graphics, at the end of the video, “If you can’t take the time to understand the differences in your own community… what makes you qualified to go into other communities? Other Cultures? And tell them what they need ?” (Evans, Greenbaum, Vaughn).
By focusing on the stories of the Rwandan Genocide, and the experiences of humanitarian and aid workers across the globe, Dawes lays out the many land mines that face those who work to tell the stories of horrific world events, and the people who survived and died as a result of those atrocities.
The issue Dawes examines that most strongly relates to our PSA is what he terms, “the moral risks of professional witnessing” (230). To me, this term sums up what we were trying to present in our PSA. Anytime you tell a story, you must first examine, and ask: what are your biases? Are you the right person to tell this story? Will telling this story cause more harm or good? Dawes quotes South African writer Antjie Krog, in reference to telling the stories of victims of Apartheid: “There are so many ways to hurt others when trying to speak for them, so many and so unexpected” (Dawes 9). This is one of the main points our PSA was trying to make. Telling other people’s stories can be dangerous, and harmful, so, before you begin, you must examine your motives.
In discussing the role of interviewers in the storytelling process, Dawes quotes from an interview he did with Dave Eggers, the editor of an oral history series on human rights, published in the independent press McSweeney’s. Eggers states, “…we as interviewers can get a sense that we’ve stolen something. That aspect of theft that we can feel as journalists or human rights documentarians. [He emphasizes the point]: I came in, I stole something from you, I took your story, and you’ll never see me again.” Eggers went on to say, “the person that they took it from has in many cases gotten nothing” (Dawes 176-177).
In chapter four, Dawes examines the inherent problems in human rights storytelling, particularly when done by outsiders to the events. Dawes acknowledges that the problems of finding a way of telling a true story about humanitarian interventions is as true for his own book, as it is for all other journalists, writers, playwrights and artists. He quotes an early reader of his manuscript who said, “Who nominates you to publicize pain and suffering that you can walk away from?” (Dawes 166).
Our PSA made the point that the interviewer––the person guiding the story through the questions they ask––must take a hard look at themselves, before they begin the process of telling the stories of others. This is as true in our culture, here, in America, as it is for the work we may do as global citizens.
Works Cited:
- Dawes, James. That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocity. Harvard University Press, 2007.
- Timburg, Scott. (2015). “Salon talks to the editors of “Voice of Witness Reader,” true stories of struggle in the U.S. and the world.” Salon. June 15. 2015
- SOC 376: Being/Becoming a Global Citizen (SOC 376: 2/6-5/7)