Historical Trauma and Transformation
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Aesthetics of Cruelty Colloquium

​Aesthetics of Cruelty: Representations of Violence and Dehumanisation in Russia and South Africa

9 – 10 December 2020

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Aesthetics of Cruelty will engage an interdisciplinary lens to explore the intersection of the politics of memory and the arts in the context of ongoing debates about histories of repression and violence, and more specifically the traumatic pasts of the Soviet Gulags and apartheid. Focusing on the transgenerational repercussions of these violent histories, this project is part of our interest in both scholarly research and public scholarship on the representation of past crimes through film, visual arts, photography, performing arts, and narrative representation of stories of suffering. The colloquium will be organised along three categories: (a) trauma narratives and bearing witness; (b) visual arts and photography; (c) performance art and exhibitions.

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Watch the recording of the colloquium