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Why
Are We Not Talking About September 11th ?
Panel
of Experts Examines Our Ambivalence and Public Trauma of 9/11
New York,
N.Y.— September 11th confronted many Americans for the
first time with an unexpected and violent event, which evoked
public trauma and strong emotions. Yet, now, as we approach
the second anniversary of this tragic event, the commemorations
and public reactions seem like a shadow from a year ago.
A panel of experts on public sentiments at Barnard College
will examine the reasons for the public ambivalence about
September 11th and about remembering the past. It will also
provide a forum for the many different emotional responses
still provoked by September 11th and address policies that
have spawned from this tragic event. "Reflecting on 9/11"
will be held Wednesday, September 10, at 7 p.m. in the James
Room, 4th Floor of Barnard Hall (117th and Broadway).
Ann Cvetkovich, moderator of the panel and public trauma expert,
who has worked on the September 11th Oral History Project
of Columbia University, said "It is possible that we
have reached a point where we are ambivalent about September
11th and want to put it aside and move on. The panel will
seek to address this ambivalence and provide a place for the
articulation of the many complex feelings prompted by the
memory of September 11th."
All the panelists have worked in the area of trauma and testimony
prior to September 11th and will seek to situate it in the
broader context of both world historical events and everyday
life.
They include: Marianne Hirsch on the holocaust; Steven Reisner
on refugees and war survivors in Kosovo and New York; Jason
Tougaw on documenting feelings that are part of everyday life
and contextualizing September 11th by juxtaposing it with
ordinary scenes of emotion; and Margaret McLagan on Tibet
and other human rights struggles.
The panelists will also examine how September 11th has affected
their own work and research, and will answer questions such
as:
- Where
are we now - particularly in the context of the U.S presence
in Iraq?
- What
kinds of emotions are appropriate to express publicly? Are
there other sentiments that are appropriate that are not
covered in the media – What kinds of feelings do we
have public space for?
- What
kinds of memorials and forms of memory do we need to create
for the September 11th memorial site?
- How
can the arts and culture facilitate the role of memory in
regards to September 11th and create alternative forms of
memory?
- How
do we place September 11th in context with other historical
events?
The panel
coincides with a launch of a special double issue of the Scholar
& Feminist Online, a journal published by the Barnard
Center for Research on Women, which displays how artists and
writers address public trauma as a result of September 11th
and other similar events through the written word and performances.
For more information about the panel discussion or the S&F
Online, call 212.854.2067 or visit www.barnard.edu/bcrw.
The event is free and open to the public.
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