Use Of Testimony Research Articles

Between the Long Sixties and the Short Eighties: An Analysis of Jorge Denti’s Film Malvinas, historia de traiciones

This article surveys early documentaries about the Malvinas War, through an analysis of Jorge Denti’s Malvinas, historia de traiciones (1983), the first such film about the 1982 war by an Argentine filmmaker. Forty years after this conflict, this article recuperates this frequently overlooked film in order to analyse how its narrative dialogues with different imaginaries and identities of the sixties and eighties – influenced, of course, by the experience of state terrorism in the seventies. Paying special attention to Denti’s political and cinematographic trajectory, this article focuses on the film’s use of testimony and its construction of an epic around the idea of popular organisation that underscores the tensions between different epochal perspectives.

UYUSHGAN JINOYATCHILIKNI TERGOV QILISHNING DASTLABKI BOSQICHIDA TIPIK TERGOV VAZIYATLARI XORIJIY DAVLATLAR MISOLIDA

This article presents situations in investigative actions against organized crime in the example of developed countries. Measures to combat organized crime must be constantly improved and have a feature that prevents the development of organized crime. That is, operatives need to use new methods to quickly collect and analyze information about the crime. Each of these cases can be classified as investigative cases on the facts of detection, suppression and disclosure of crimes related to a specific mechanism of criminal activity. Particularly relevant is the problem of proving the fight against organized crime in the framework of criminal procedure regulation. That is, obtaining evidence illegally affects its admissibility, and its use causes problems in court. The use of effective methods in the investigation of organized crime is emphasized. Also, the practice of coercive and voluntary prosecution, delivery of data collected under supervision, the use of testimony from accomplices in crime, and the admissibility of evidence in court are discussed. It stipulates that investigative actions are carried out in a procedural manner according to the legislation of developed countries.

The impact of positive and negative testimony on children's attitudes toward others.

Children can identify who is benevolent or malevolent not only through first-hand experiences and observations but also from the testimony of others. In this study, we investigated whether 5- and 7-year-olds (N = 128) would form their attitudes toward others after hearing testimony about that person’s past moral behavior and whether the valence of testimony would differently influence the children. In the positive condition, half of the participants gained information about three puppets: puppet A’s prosocial behavior by their own first-hand observation, testimony about puppet B’s past prosocial behavior, and testimony about puppet C’s past neutral behavior. In the negative condition, the other half also learned information about the three puppets: puppet A’s antisocial behavior by their own first-hand observation, testimony about puppet B’s past antisocial behavior, and testimony about puppet C’s past neutral behavior. Then they engaged in tasks that measured their behavioral attitudes toward the puppets and evaluated the goodness of each puppet to assess their attitudes at a cognitive level. Our results concluded that the children form their behavioral attitudes toward others based on testimony starting at the age of 7, and attitude formation at the cognitive level based on testimony is seen at age 5. Negative testimony, rather than positive testimony, influences the children’s attitudes toward others. In addition, the 7-year-olds’ use of testimony differs depending whether they are the allocators or the receivers of rewards. Our findings deepen understanding of how children rely on the verbal information around themselves when they navigate interactions with others.

An epistemological analysis of the use of reputation as evidence

Rules 405(a) and 608(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence allow the use of testimony about a witness’s reputation to support or undermine his or her credibility in trial. This paper analyses the evidential weight of such testimony from the point of view of social epistemology and the theory of social networks. Together they provide the necessary elements to analyse how reputation is understood in this case, and to assess the epistemic foundation of a reputational attribution. The result of the analysis will be that reputational testimony is extremely weak from an epistemological point of view, and that in many cases there are more reliable substitutes that achieve a similar purpose. The obvious fix, in my view, is to eliminate the use of reputation testimony to support or undermine the credibility, honesty, chastity or peacefulness of a witness

Children's Use of Testimony to Determine Reality Status.

Verbal testimony about reality status is critical but often contradictory. These studies address whom children consider reliable sources of information about reality and how they evaluate conflicting testimony. In Study 1, seventy 4- to 8-year-olds heard an adult or child provide testimony about how to cook food and use toys, and about the reality of unfamiliar entities. Children selected the adult for food and the child for toys. Six- and 8-year-olds also selected the adult regarding reality. In Study 2, ninety 4- to 8-year-olds heard conflicting reality information from children and adults. Six- to 8-year-olds endorsed adult and child claims differentially and stated that adults knew more. By age 6, children favor adult testimony about reality over that of children.

Perpetrating and resisting fortress USA: documentary strategies of National Bird and Fahrenheit 11/9

ABSTRACT This article analyzes two documentary films that figure the enmeshment of individuals and institutions in attitudes and practices of ‘fortress USA’ and studies the role of media in facilitating and resisting that process. Whereas a large share of the scholarly literature on trauma and documentary has focused for good reason on the atrocities of Hitler’s Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and the Rwandan Genocide, and on the testimonies of survivors, the documentary films under study here present certain actions by the United States as perpetrative: that is to say, as rife with casualties and as racist, media-dependent, and insupportable from the perspective of social justice. National Bird features whistleblowers of the U.S. drone war. Fahrenheit 11/9 probes Donald Trump’s deployment of mediated, divisive speech. The particular aim of this article is to demonstrate how these significant and timely works make innovative and oftentimes reflexive use of testimony, drone imaginaries, and ‘Border Spectacle’, thereby interrupting the lethal agendas of fortress USA.

My Body Is a War Zone: Exhibitions and Testimonies as a Tool for Change.

This article has evolved from an exhibition produced with PROOF: Media for Social Justice entitled "My Body Is a War Zone," which was part of a larger project ("Legacy of Rape") consisting of stories from women in four postconflict regions. Drawing on interviews conducted with women in Santa Marta, Colombia, in May 2012 and January 2017, I explore the use of testimony, photography, and exhibition as a means of empowering survivors to become activists. Using the Colombian example, I argue that such exhibitions can transform national and public dialogue by engaging audiences on a personal and emotional level.

Hashtag Activism and Why #BlackLivesMatter In (and To) the Classroom

This paper considers #blacklivesmatter an important part of current discussions of race and social justice. It explores the ways in which Twitter users (and students) are developing a globally-connected voice to not only build awareness and solidarity, but also challenge the framing of issues relating to #blacklivesmatter and the ways blacks are represented by a variety of political actors, including the mainstream media. The paper identifies two trends in teaching #blacklivesmatter and its relevance to the classroom: historicizing the “new” civil rights movement and the use of testimony and discussion as a new praxis. The authors conclude that students must be reminded of their ability to influence their own lives by using their personal stories and seizing their voice.

Geographical testimony: a short history of a Yugoslav family

ABSTRACTI attempt in this essay to travel outside of and beyond the more spectacular or established geopolitical discourses associated with research on post-conflict regions, and follow instead the trail of another more essential or everyday history and geography. Listening to and responding to the testimony of a single Yugoslav family, I draw from and write of memories of former places, initially returning to the traumatic moments of 1992, and a journey across Europe. In so doing, I reflect upon the use of testimony in geographical writing, positioning it as an inherently geographical psychoanalytic technique, which not only eases suffering in individuals and communities, but also offers new possibilities for societal change and transitional justice in post-conflict regions.

Opinion Versus Knowledge: The Influence of Testimony Format on Children’s Judgments in Morally Relevant Contexts

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: To test children’s use of testimony of others, 3 – 9 years (N = 227) made judgments about a potential peer transgression in which the intentions of the protagonist were ambiguous, after hearing two different forms of testimony. The 2 forms of testimony were (a) opposing opinion-based testimony from an adult authority versus a peer consensus group and (b) knowledge-based testimony (eyewitness testimony) that was counter to the participants’ initial judgments. Findings revealed that when testimony was presented in an opinion-based format, children were likely to side with the opinion that reflected their own interpretation of the peer encounter, regardless of whether the opinion came from a peer consensus or an adult authority. However, when knowledge-based testimony was introduced in support of the opposite of children’s initial interpretation of the ambiguous peer encounter, children most often changed their initial judgment to align with the new testimony. That is, children used knowledge-based testimony but not opinion-based testimony to evaluate a potential transgression. Practice or Policy: These findings demonstrate that the way in which testimony is delivered to children has a direct influence on their decision making about peer interactions and has relevance for teacher–student discourse in the classroom.

Farming Dwelling Thinking

In “Building Dwelling Thinking,” Heidegger discusses a bridge and a farmhouse as gathering things. He also suggests, but does not develop, that farming builds things by “nurs[ing] and nurtur[ing] the things that grow” (1975, 151). I show below that Bill McKibben’s work does develop, consciously or not, this sense of farming as a focal thing, to use the terms of Albert Borgmann. Furthermore, I will position McKibben’s environmentalism in light of Heidegger’s, Borgmann’s, and my work on technology and things. Aside from his work on climate change and farming as a thing, McKibben’s valuable contribution to this discussion, I find, is his compelling use of testimony on behalf of these focal things.

Rethinking conformity and imitation: divergence, convergence, and social understanding.

Social and developmental psychologists have stressed the pervasiveness and strength of humans’ tendencies to conform and to imitate, and social anthropologists have argued that these tendencies are crucial to the formation of cultures. Research from four domains is reviewed and elaborated to show that divergence is also pervasive and potent, and it is interwoven with convergence in a complex set of dynamics that is often unnoticed or minimized. First, classic research in social conformity is reinterpreted in terms of truth, trust, and social solidarity, revealing that dissent is its most salient feature. Second, recent studies of children’s use of testimony to guide action reveal a surprisingly sophisticated balance of trust and prudence, and a concern for truth and charity. Third, new experiments indicate that people diverge from others even under conditions where conformity seems assured. Fourth, current studies of imitation provide strong evidence that children are both selective and faithful in who, what, and why they follow others. All of the evidence reviewed points toward children and adults as being engaged, embodied partners with others, motivated to learn and understand the world, others, and themselves in ways that go beyond goals and rules, prediction and control. Even young children act as if they are in a dialogical relationship with others and the world, rather than acting as if they are solo explorers or blind followers. Overall, the evidence supports the hypothesis that social understanding cannot be reduced to convergence or divergence, but includes ongoing activities that seek greater comprehensiveness and complexity in the ability to act and interact effectively, appropriately, and with integrity.

A death in the Asia Pacific: three documentaries by Annie Goldson

This article discusses a trilogy of films directed by contemporary New Zealand documentary filmmaker, Annie Goldson. Punitive Damage (1999), An Island Calling (2008) and Brother Number One (2011) each consider the murder of a New Zealand citizen in another nation in the Asia Pacific (East Timor, Fiji and Cambodia, respectively). A close family member recounts the life and death of this individual and the politically charged circumstances in which these murders occurred. This essay considers how the trilogy constructs an address to the viewer, given both the expressive, aesthetic dimensions of the films and their modes of distribution. The films pose the family member who has lost a loved one as a key site of empathy in the documentaries and the use of testimony reinforces this. However as the films clearly show, the deaths that occur are not isolated – they are the result of local histories of catastrophe and cultural shifts, including genocide, occupation and colonialism. Yet, the point of view of the Western subject is at the center of these stories. This essay explores how this subject, and their testimony, is foregrounded in the films and what is at stake in this ‘outsider’ documentary rendering of events.

Years of Persecution, Years of Extermination: Saul Friedländer and the Future of Holocaust Studies ed. by Christian Wiese and Paul Betts (review)

Reviewed by: Years of Persecution, Years of Extermination: Saul Friedländer and the Future of Holocaust Studies ed. by Christian Wiese and Paul Betts Margarete Myers Feinstein Years of Persecution, Years of Extermination: Saul Friedländer and the Future of Holocaust Studies Edited by Christian Wiese and Paul Betts. New York: Continuum, 2010. 370 pp. As Doris L. Bergen observes in this volume, the publication of Saul Friedländer’s magisterial Years of Persecution aroused the concern that it would “somehow manage to finish the work” of so many scholars (289). This important collection of essays, however, should dispel such fears. Using Friedländer’s two-volume Nazi Germany and the Jews as their starting point, leading scholars of the Holocaust identify important avenues for further research and debate. The editors succinctly lay out the scope of the debates and reflections in their introduction to the volume, and in the opening chapter Saul Friedländer himself takes the opportunity to define the concept of an integrated history of the Holocaust, to explain the narrative choices that he made in writing such a history, and to reflect on a few comparative issues [End Page 159] revealed by such an approach. The remainder of the book is usefully organized around four themes: the Holocaust as a narrative problem, German society and redemptive antisemitism, mass killing and genocide, and perspectives. The individual authors, however, do not confine the scope of their essays to a particular theme, so that there are interesting continuities and counterpoints across the editors’ organizational divisions. In general admiring of the complexity of Friedländer’s narrative and his cinematic use of testimony (particularly diaries), Alon Confino and Tony Kushner both suggest advantages to expanding Friedländer’s approach to testimony. Confino urges the use of “historic sensation” and disruptive techniques in historical inquiry beyond the Holocaust, while Kushner advocates an even greater acceptance of chaos and incoherence in historical narrative to accommodate competing voices and to be more reflective of victims’ experiences. Kushner also points out the usefulness of reflecting on the literary form of diary writing and on the entire life arc of the diarists. Mark Roseman, meanwhile, compellingly demonstrates that victims’ observations can teach us about the perpetrators. Dan Diner highlights the productive results of Friedländer’s chronicle-like approach. His understanding of Friedländer’s concept of redemptive antisemitism, that it provides a necessary precondition to mass murder without needing it to explain individual actions, stands in contrast to the skepticism of the scholars in the second and third parts of the book. Peter Pulzer leads the way by accepting redemptive antisemitism as a necessary background to the Shoah but questioning whether it is sufficient to explain it. The succeeding authors examine German society and demonstrate the need for further research to explain German motivations to pursue genocidal war and the immunity of Germans to defeatism until the very end of the war (Nicholas Stargardt) as well as the perseverance of Nazi morality and “decency” into the postwar era that complicates issues of resistance and complicity (Raphel Gross). Wolf Gruner argues that the mechanism by which Germans became mass murderers remains unclear and suggests the need for biographical studies at all social levels, for examination of the movement of personnel (such as German mayors to occupied territories) and of how pre-1939 activities prepared them for mass murder. Others see global trends as more significant than the particularities of German society and antisemitism for explaining the genocide of the Jews. Alan Kramer, for example, suggests that the explanation lies in fifty years of mass killing and genocide by authoritarian regimes engaged in nation [End Page 160] building or national reconstruction, while A. Dirk Moses situates the Nazi genocide in the context of colonialism and imperial methods brought home to Europe. The frenzied murders of the final days of the regime are the focus of Richard Bessel’s argument that while redemptive antisemitism can explain the calculated murders of the concentration camps, the seemingly chaotic murders of the war’s end that engulfed a wide-range of victims need to be understood through the self-motivation of individuals in a collapsing regime. In contrast, Doris L...

"Jesus Said to Them...": The Adaptation of Juridical Rhetoric in John 5:19—47

More than simply a speech crafted to fit the specific situation that Jesus’ miracle creates, John 5:19–47 resonates with the larger themes of the Gospel and its characterization of Jesus. This article utilizes rhetorical categories present in the Gospel’s milieu to analyze Jesus’ speech. There are noticeable points of connection with rhetorical conventions mentioned in handbooks, progymnasmata, and found in rhetorical practice. These similarities include (1) prosopopoiia, or the manner in which authors created believable speeches in their narratives; (2) ethos, or the orator’s construction of his/her own character as a part of the method of persuasion; (3) instructions concerning the use of testimony in the ancient world; and (4) methods of refutation. There are, however, also significant points of contrast with these same categories, which serve to highlight the specific rhetorical goals of the Fourth Gospel. By employing rhetorical conventions, the evangelist makes use of common expectations regarding speech, even while undermining them, in order to emphasize the unique character of his subject.

"Jesus Said to Them . . .": The Adaptation of Juridical Rhetoric in John 5:19-47

More than simply a speech crafted to fit the specific situation that Jesus' miracle creates, John 5:19-47 resonates with the larger themes of the Gospel and its characterization of Jesus. This article utilizes rhetorical categories present in the Gospel's milieu to analyze Jesus' speech. There are noticeable points of connection with rhetorical conventions mentioned in handbooks, progymnasmata , and found in rhetorical practice. These similarities include (1) prosopopoiia , or the manner in which authors created believable speeches in their narratives; (2) ethos , or the orator's construction of his/her own character as a part of the method of persuasion; (3) instructions concerning the use of testimony in the ancient world; and (4) methods of refutation. There are, however, also significant points of contrast with these same categories, which serve to highlight the specific rhetorical goals of the Fourth Gospel. By employing rhetorical conventions, the evangelist makes use of common expectations regarding speech, even while undermining them, in order to emphasize the unique character of his subject.

Current perspectives on assessment and therapy with survivors of torture: the use of a cognitive behavioural approach

Increasing numbers of refugees are presenting to mental health services in Europe and Scandinavia and pose significant clinical challenges for practitioners. The most clinically challenging to engage in a psychotherapeutic context are survivors of torture and politically organized violence. Much of the literature on therapeutic work with torture survivors has tended to focus on psychodynamic approaches. There have also been attempts to describe other approaches, such as the use of testimony, with some attempts to study and describe cognitive behavioural approaches in torture survivors. It has been demonstrated that cognitive behavioural therapy is effective for PTSD, as recommended by the NICE (2005) guidelines for the assessment and management of PTSD in primary and secondary care. This paper will review and critique the current literature on therapy with refugees and survivors of torture. Through case examples, the use of CBT will be illustrated as an effective treatment intervention for this group. It will be demonstrated that the model can have effective clinical outcomes and provide a practical, problem-orientated approach to working with survivors of torture and political violence. This paper will also describe the use of assessment and treatment approaches using CBT principles, demonstrating the flexibility and applicability of the model. It also demonstrates the utility of CBT in different cultural contexts, despite perceived cultural limitations. Implications for assessment and practice in a cross-cultural setting will be discussed.

Teachers as memory makers: Testimony in the making of a new history in South Africa

This article examines the use of testimony in the making of a new history in South Africa, situating this phenomenon in the context of public construction of memory and identifying history teachers as critical to the process. Through an ethnographic study of 16 schools that illuminates the use of teacher testimony in Cape Town history classrooms, the authors explore the nuanced use of testimony as a pedagogic tool and probe the role of history teachers as memory makers. Finally, this article assesses implications of teachers creating space for dialogical memory making in post-apartheid South Africa and outlines lessons of this experience for other countries in democratic transition.

Toward a Regional Definition of Idolatry: Reexamining Idolatry Trials in the "Relaciónes De Méritos" and Their Role in Defining the Concept of "Idolatria" in Colonial Yucatán, 1570-1780

AbstractThis paper explores the limitations and validity of the document genre of autobiographical and service narratives of colonial clergymen called Ralaciónes de Méritos y Seruicios and their role in defining colonial concepts of idolatry. It addresses the issues of clerical exaggeration and the use of testimony as a political weapon, two frequently raised critiques of their historical validity. Examining a large number of these Relaciónes de Méritos, placing them in the context of their author's ecclesiastical careers, and contemplating the clerics' intentions in writing them, this paper will argue for revalidating the use of this documentary genre in ethnohistorical discourse. In the course of this examination, the paper will demonstrate the value of these ReLaciónes in studying the regional evolution of colonial perceptions of idolatry as a coherent category of ecclesiastical offense.

Testimonio, a Bridge Between Psychotherapy and Sociotherapy

The Testimonio, or Testimony, is a therapeutic tool in the treatment of people who have suffered psychological trauma under state terrorism. This article discusses the historical origins and social and clinical applications. The objective realities of the terrorist state are examined in terms of their toxic effects on the community, and the process of Testimony is presented as both a psychotherapeutic clinical method for improving the mental health of the individual, and an act of social and political therapy that makes a significant contribution to community mental health. Using examples drawn from women who are managing an accomodation to political repression, and their exiled sisters who have had to flee for refuge, the article compares the use of Testimony in a public, social setting with its use in the clinical setting. Through this comparison the interactive psychological and political dimensions of the process are observed as critical for the healing of personal and social wounds, and equally effec...