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Transgressive, Co-opted or Produced? Re-examining the Ethics and Politics of Knowledge Production with Survivors of Sexual Violence Across Key Institutions
Fri, September 5, 8:00 to 9:15am, Deree | Classrooms, DC 703Session Submission Type: Roundtable
Abstract
This roundtable brings together key experts to revisit Nancy Naples’ (2004: 1152) contention that those who study sexual violence must continue to interrogate what it means for feminist politics that ‘the dynamics of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, and sexuality are infused throughout the institutional sites in which survivor discourse is produced’. While a large body of feminist scholarship has attended to the ways in which the discourse of sexual violence survivors is mediated or co-opted by key institutions, hitherto less attention has been given to the ways in which these sites actively shape and (re)produce survivor discourse. In fact, in the current post-#MeToo landscape, much work appears increasingly invested in both affirming and perpetuating the idea that survivor speech is inherently transgressive and always in opposition to key institutions. Through using Naples’ provocation as a starting point, in this roundtable panellists will draw on their specific expertise of key institutional settings where survivor speech is engaged with and utilised. These include but are not limited to: (i) the neoliberal university, (ii) psychological settings, (iii) courtrooms and legal environments, (iv) the media, and also (v) feminist sexual violence support services. In doing so they will reflect on how knowledge is created in these institutions, as well as the ethics and politics of this knowledge production. Participants will also offer reflections on some of the ethical and methodological challenges of stepping into these debates as feminist researchers.