What does it mean to bear witness in a time of relentless violence? When images of cruelty dominate our screens and when acts of public witnessing may deepen hostility rather than foster compassion, what remains of the ethical power of witnessing?

Historically, the atrocity of the Holocaust deepened our understanding of the moral imperative to bear witness. This recognition, exemplified through memoirs, films, news reports, and photography, highlighted the importance of testifying to the horrors of genocide and other mass atrocities. Truth commissions, despite their limitations, sought to create a space for survivors and victims’ families to bear witness to their suffering, and post-truth commission inquests are established in the quest for justice, offering a path towards the possibility of repair. Yet in the face of contemporary global crises, the act of witnessing often feels fraught with ambiguity. Atrocities unfold on our television screens in real time, with images and narratives of violence dominating our media.

This conference seeks to explore the ethical, emotional, and political dimensions of bearing witness to suffering both near and distant. What does sustained exposure to the pain of others evoke in us? Witness testimony is not always received with openness – it can be met with scepticism, weaponised for political ends, or dismissed altogether. How, then, might we cultivate practices of witnessing that resist indifference, and ensure instead that they open the possibility of acts of care, solidarity, and ethical engagement with the suffering other?

What role can art, literature, creative expression, and other forms of communication play in bearing witness to atrocity and contribute to cultivating practices of repair?

The conference will bring together scholars and practitioners from different disciplines and backgrounds to contribute to a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with bearing witness in the 21st century. We encourage scholars, artists, and practitioners to submit abstract proposals that respond to the call to engage in critical dialogue on bearing witness and what remains of its ethical power. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• What does bearing witness mean in the 21^st century?
• Bearing witness in real time in the digital age.
• Museums as sites of witnessing.
• Black witnessing.
• Visible and invisible sites of witnessing and bodies of evidence.
• Intersections of bearing witness and representation.
• Public culture and acts of bearing witness.
• Tension between witnessing and spectatorship
• Bearing witness – creating a moral archive for the future.
• Bearing witness as an instrument of social change.
• Imagery and mass atrocities.
• Bearing witness and the pursuit of justice, accountability.

Abstract Format and Submission:

Individual Presentations

Abstracts for individual presentations should include title a (no more than 20 words), author/s, and affiliation. It should be no more than 300 words in length and cannot include references.

Symposia

A symposium abstract must include a title and a symposium summary that describes the describe the symposium theme and its importance in no more than 350 words. The names of between 3 and 4 presenters must include a chairperson/convenor who may also be a discussant. The symposium abstract must be followed by the abstracts (300 words or less) of each of the presenters. Preference will be given to symposia that demonstrate cohesiveness across presentations.

Panel Discussion 

Abstracts for panel discussions should give an overview of the discussion’s focus and not exceed 300 words. The names of the presenters should include each presenter’s affiliation.

Abstract Submission Deadline: 22 September 2025

Notification of Review Outcome: 28 November 2025

For information and Queries Contact the Conference Operations Liaison, Kate Woode-Smith at bearingwitness@gmail