Violence and Visibility: Historical, Cultural, and Political Perspectives from the 19th Century to the Present

Violence and Visibility: Historical, Cultural, and Political Perspectives from the 19th Century to the Present

Veranstalter
Juergen Martschukat / Silvan Niedermeier, Universität Erfurt; Michael Wildt, Humboldt-Universität Berlin
Veranstaltungsort
HU Berlin, Grimm-Zentrum, Vortragssaal, und Kino Arsenal, Potsdamer Platz
Ort
Berlin
Land
Deutschland
Vom - Bis
24.06.2010 - 26.06.2010
Deadline
20.06.2010
Von
Juergen Martschukat

Since the Enlightenment, modern self-perception has been grounded in an aversion to physical violence. Yet violence in its various forms has continued to be an inherent characteristic of modern societies. This conference will shed light on this seeming paradox by asking about the techniques and cultural strategies that have been employed to make the persistence of physical violence compatible with a “civilized” self-image. Discussion will be guided by the thesis that the visibilities of violence have been radically transformed in modern societies and thus that cultural uneasiness in the face of physical violence is infl uenced less by its scope and degree than by its form and visibility. Following this argument, our guiding questions will be: How is violence displayed, scandalized, and documented in modern societies, and what is the role of the media in this field? Which new invisibilities of violence have come into existence, for example through the implementation of modern practices of punishment? How is the in/visibility of violence related to the positioning of specifi c human beings within power structures, and how does the in/visibility of violence influence opportunities to criticize and delegitimize one’s own subjection to physical violence? In fi ve sessions and in an evening presentation at Kino Arsenal, an interdisciplinary group of scholars from Europe and the United States will discuss the relationship of violence and visibility and its significance for modern history and culture.

Programm

Thursday, June 24, 2010

2 - 3 p.m. Reception
Introductory Note
Jürgen Martschukat, Silvan Niedermeier, Michael Wildt

3 - 5 p.m. Section I: Performances
Chair: Michael Wildt, HU Berlin

Dora Apel, Wayne State University:
“Wish I Were There”: The Possibilities and Impossibilities of Historical Reenactment
Belinda Davis, Rutgers University:
Visualization of the Violent in 1960s/70s West Germany

Comment: Annette Jael Lehmann, Free University of Berlin

5 - 5. 30 p.m. Coffee

5.30 - 7.00 p.m. Keynote
Moderation: Jürgen Martschukat, Erfurt University

Colin Dayan, Vanderbilt University:
Torture by Any Other Name: Prelude to Guantánamo

7.30 p.m. Dinner

Friday, June 25, 2010

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Section II: Popular Culture
Chair: Silvan Niedermeier, Erfurt University

Thomas Weitin, Konstanz University:
The Visibility of Torture in Collections of Judicial Case Studies in the 19th Century
Bruce Dorsey, Swarthmore College:
Scandalous Murders in the History of the United States

10.10 - 10.30 a.m. Coffee Break

Amy Wood, Illinois State University:
Cinema, Modernity, and the ‘Scandal’ of Racial Violence in the U.S.

Comment: Jürgen Martschukat, Erfurt University

12 - 2 p.m. Lunch

2 - 5 p.m. Section III: Warfare
Chair: Michaela Hampf, Free University of Berlin

Friedrich Balke, Bauhaus-University Weimar:
„In fact, it makes me laugh!“ The Violence of War and Wit in Kleist‘s Partisan Drama
Sebastian Jobs, Rostock University
Shiny Happy Warfare? New York Victory Parades and the (In)Visibility of Violence

3.10 - 3.40 p.m. Coffee Break

Amie Siegel, Artist and Filmmaker:
Establishing Shots

Comment: Alf Lüdtke, Erfurt University

7.45 - 11 p.m. Forum „Picturing Violence“
Kino Arsenal, Berlin

Film Screening:
Standard Operating Procedure (Errol Morris USA 2008)

Panel Discussion
Moderation: Michael Wildt, History, HU Berlin
Dora Apel, Art History, Wayne State University
Robert Chappell, Director of Photography, Standard Operating Procedure
Colin Dayan, Humanities, Law, and History, Vanderbilt University
Romuald Karmakar, Filmmaker, Berlin

Saturday, June 26, 2010

9.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. Section IV: Race
Chair: Norbert Finzsch, Cologne University

Martha Hodes, New York University:
Violence, Visibility, and Invisibility in the New York City Race Riot of 1900
Silvan Niedermeier, Erfurt University:
Race, Visibility, and the Documentation of Torture in the American South

10.40 a.m. - 11 a.m. Coffee Break

Michael Wildt, HU Berlin:
Pictures of Anti Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany

Comment: W. Fitzhugh Brundage,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

12.30 - 2.30 p.m. Lunch

2.30 - 4.30 p.m. Section V: Photography
Chair: Holt Meyer, Erfurt University

Anton Holzer, Vienna:
Killing as Spectacle: Voyeurism and Violence in First World War Photography
Petra Bopp, Jena University:
Images of Violence in Wehrmacht Soldiers’ Private Photo Albums

Comment: Jens Jäger, Cologne University

4.30 - 5 p.m. Wrap up

Kontakt

violence-and-visibility@web.de

http://www.uni-erfurt.de/fileadmin/public-docs/Geschichte/Nordamerikanische_Geschichte/Aktuelles/Programm_VIOLENCE_AND_VISIBILITY.pdf
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