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Barnard’s
Online Journal Examines Public Reactions to Trauma in Tribute
to September 11th
New York,
N.Y.— The unexpected and violent trauma of September
11, 2001, has produced an outpouring of public emotion, which
Barnard College’s Scholar & Feminist Online
journal examines in a special double issue this month that
explores how artists and writers interpret the meaning of
September 11th through writing and visual and performance
art.
The multimedia web journal, www.barnard.edu/sfonline,
contains 21 essays and performances by such renowned artists
as Anna Deavere Smith and Sarah Jones, as well as photos,
video, and dialogues that capture emotion, preserve history
and sometimes revive testimony. The issue is guest-edited
by authors Ann Cvetkovich and Ann Pellegrini, both of whom
have written extensively about public trauma.
"The issue brings to light the ways emotional responses
to trauma can be both deeply personal and also part of our
public culture," notes Deborah Siegel, co-editor with
Janet Jakobsen of the multimedia journal. "Our hope,"
says Jakobsen, "is that readers will be prompted to explore
how public sentiments can be important in the processes of
building a more just, less violent world."
The essays are divided into three interconnected themes: September
11th, other historical traumatic events, and art as a form
of expressing public sentiment. The essays address questions
like:
- What
are the implications of public trauma?
- What
can we learn from the study of public emotion and trauma
in other times and places?
- How
does art address public feelings?
The Scholar
& Feminist Online September 11th tribute issue will
be accompanied by a panel discussion, "Reflecting on
9/11" on Wednesday, September 10, at 7 p.m. in the James
Room, Barnard Hall at West 117th Street and Broadway.
The panel will feature Cvetkovich and other contributors and
examine what types of public policies are the outcome of September
11th. The panelists will also discuss how the arts and performances
can contribute to alternative, less violent futures.
Part One of the issue, "Archives of Trauma," draws
its content from the February 2002 Scholar and Feminist Conference
at Barnard, which explored the topic of "Memory, Trauma,
History, Action," with panelists Marianne Hirsch, Nieves
Ayress, and Ann Cvetkovich, all of whom have contributed into
this issue with essays on violence and trauma, September 11th,
AIDS, and political torture, among other topics. Other contributors
include Peter Lucas on September 11th; Anne Cubilié
and Margaret McLagan on human rights; Roger Hallas on alternative
ways of documenting AIDS; and media artists Jane Rosett and
Jean Carlomusto on "living archive."
Part Two, "Performance Works," asks how performances
can generate different kinds of public emotion. The contributors
examine the ways performers, teachers, and activists solicit
feelings from their audiences in an attempt to "move"
them. The first cluster, "Audience Making: Affect &
Effect", highlights the work of artists Anna Deavere
Smith and Sarah Jones, who use testimony and oral history
as the basis for their performances. The second cluster, "World
Making: Performance and Cultural Formation," features
essays by theatre artist and psychoanalyst Steven Reisner
on trauma and drama, and essayists Rachel Lee, Daphne Lei,
Judith Halberstam, and Janelle Reinelt on theatre and live
performance. The essays in the final cluster, "Feeling
Public," document feelings that are part of everyday
life and contextualize dramatic events such as September 11th
by juxtaposing them with ordinary scenes of emotion. The contributors
include Rebecca Schneider, Alyssa Harad, Kathleen Stewart,
Sharon Holland, and Jason Tougaw.
The special issue editors Cvetkovich and Pellegrini have both
studied the issues of public emotion and drama. In her recent
book, An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian
Public Cultures, Cvetkovich explores national and public
drama by analyzing daily lives of lesbians and gays as they
face homophobia, racism, and sexism. Pellegrini’s book
Performance Anxieties, Staging, Psychoanalysis, Staging
Race works "in between" selected psychoanalytic
texts and specific theatrical performance, among them Deavere
Smith’s Fires in the Mirror.
For more information about the Scholar and Feminist Online
or the panel discussion, call 212.854.2067 or visit www.barnard.edu/bcrw.
The event is free and open to the public.
Contact:
Petra Tuomi, Barnard Office of Public Affairs, 212-854-7907,
Ptuomi@barnard.edu
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