June 27-30, 2007. University of Tampere, Finland

Panel: Narrating violence(s)

How do violence and terror make their appearance in language? How do individuals make sense of violence, especially their own violence, through their narratives? How does one understand the narratives of those who enact violence; do they always authorise and legitimate violence, or are narratives a means of transcending the terror of one's own violence? For that matter, can terror be narrated? If terror is said to occur in a realm that defies the possibilities of speech, then how is it indicated in narratives? This panel interrogates the possibilities, difficulties, and paradoxes of conveying violence and acts of terror in narratives. It examines ways of knowing, acting, and interacting with others through spoken and written representations of violence and terror. We particularly welcome papers that focus on alternative ways of constructing agency, responsibility in narrating violence(s).