New Forms of Self-Narration

Young Women, Life Writing and Human Rights

Ana Belén Martínez García

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783030464196
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030464202
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Literature

This book is a timely study of young women's life writing as a form of human rights activism. It focuses on six young women who suffered human rights violations when they were girls and have gone on to become activists through life writing: Malala Yousafzai, Hyeonseo Lee, Yeonmi Park, Bana Alabed, Nujeen Mustafa, and Nadia Murad. Their ongoing life-writing projects diverge to some extent, but all share several notable features: they claim a testimonial collective voice, they deploy rights discourse, they excite humanitarian emotions, they link up their context-bound plight with bigger social justice causes, and they use English as their vehicle of self-expression and self-construction. This strategic use of English is of vital importance, as it has brought them together as icons in the public sphere within the last six years. New Forms of Self-Narration is the first ever attempt to explore all these activists' life-writing texts side by side, encompassing both the written andthe audiovisual material, online and offline, and taking all texts as belonging to a unique, single, though multifaceted, project.

© The Author(s) 2020

A. B. Martínez GarcíaNew Forms of Self-NarrationPalgrave Studies in Life Writinghttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46420-2_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction: Life Writing, Human Rights, and Young Women

Ana Belén Martínez García¹

(1)

University of Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

Ana Belén Martínez García

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This introduction provides an overview of the critical work published over the last few decades on testimonial life writing and women, exploring the conjunction between human rights fights and young women whose role may be considered transgressive in their societies and perhaps signal the rise of transnational feminism. This book is the first-ever attempt at reading side by side life-writing projects of current key icons of human rights activism from the Global South. What brings these case studies together is their strategic use of narrative, English as lingua franca, online/offline methods, and empathy to generate acute social awareness. Each chapter looks at the intriguing ways these activists write themselves, thereby righting the wrongs committed against them, reframing their story as that of an empowered survivor.

Keywords

Testimonial life writingYoung womenHuman rights activismGlobal SouthNarrative strategiesReframing

End Abstract

This book explores life writing by human rights activists who came to prominence in the 2010s. It tracks how certain texts have captured the imagination of contemporary culture, while at the same time serving to advance social justice causes at both a national level and a transnational level. Why are some stories echoed in subsequent humanitarian narratives while some others are left out? Why do some activists become icons while some others fall out of sight and/or out of favor? At a time of post-truth, why do we seek authentic reliable sources? How do we navigate the tensions inherent in witnessing these narratives? What are the conditionings for a witness to be believed by the general public? Are there differences across borders, or is there a particular way human rights fights are conveyed? New forms of communication—and therefore of narrating the self—have emerged thanks to the Web 2.0 and the affordances of social media platforms.¹ This book looks at these new forms not as alternative but as complementary methods to more traditional means—such as memoirs and documentaries—allowing publics to engage in advocacy. Human rights, in particular, has benefited greatly from the visibility gained by activists online and offline over the past decades. Wide dissemination and immediacy are key affordances of the digital realm granting access to users worldwide and in real time. Importantly, this arguably less mediated panorama entails opportunities for disadvantaged individuals to empower themselves.²

New Forms of Self-Narration is a timely study of young women’s life writing as a form of human rights activism. It focuses on six young women who suffered human rights violations when they were girls and have gone on to become activists through life writing. Their ongoing life-writing projects diverge to some extent, but they all coincide in several notable features: They claim a testimonial collective voice, they deploy rights discourse, they excite humanitarian emotions, they link up their context-bound plight with bigger social justice causes, and they use English as their vehicle of self-expression and self-construction. This strategic use of English is of vital importance, as it has brought them together as icons in the public sphere in the last decade. The following young women’s life-writing projects are discussed in the present volume: Malala Yousafzai, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner who symbolizes the struggle for girls’ right to education and for the rights of the displaced; Hyeonseo Lee and Yeonmi Park, two North Korean activists who escaped their country and speak of injustices committed by the Kim regime as well as of the trauma experienced in China and various other countries; Bana Alabed and Nujeen Mustafa, two Syrian refugees who epitomize the Syrian conflict from two opposed angles—endangered child turned youngest Anne Frank phenomenon on Twitter vs disabled teenager turned uneasy spokesperson for refugees; and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Nadia Murad, held captive by ISIS in Iraq, now an activist against human trafficking and for ethnic rights. From a position of victimhood, these young women choose to reclaim their identity and, in so doing, rewrite who they are. This is the first-ever attempt to explore all these activists’ life-writing texts side by side, encompassing both the written and the audiovisual material, online and offline, and taking all texts as belonging to a unique, single, though multifaceted, project.³ Though the path has been laid for these investigations in life-writing research, there remain gaps in what we know about testimonial narratives from the Global South and how they may have influenced policies or had repercussions on an international scale. What are the narrative devices deployed by these life writers? How are emotions conveyed, animated, and augmented? What role does mediation play in the shaping of the narrative? What is the relationship between the online and offline realms in these cases? In this book, I argue that the online/offline divide has not only become blurred over time, but that it is necessarily so.

This book will add to the growing number of publications in the field of life writing devoted to how it can work in gaining insight into current conflicts and contributing to a dialogue that might help ethical outcomes. Inspired by scholarly work in testimonial life writing (see Schaffer and Smith 2004; Smith and Watson 2010, 2012, 2017; Whitlock 2007, 2015; Gilmore 2001, 2017a, b; Douglas and Poletti 2016), I draw on life-writing theory to shed light on the aforementioned case studies. By analyzing the narrative strategies these young women use, I hope to offer some clues that may unpack the global phenomenon they pose.

Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith’s (2004) seminal work, Human Rights and Narrated Lives: The Ethics of Recognition, remains influential in subsequent publications on testimonial narratives. Scholars of life writing are now and again drawn to how the authors present human rights life narratives and their analysis of the discursive frames that help reach wide audiences. Their case studies are geographically and culturally diverse: from the South African TRC to the Stolen Generations in Australia, Korean comfort women during World War II, US prison inmates, to Tiananmen Square narratives. Not only do Schaffer and Smith discuss the productive ways in which life narratives fight for social justice, but they also present the pitfalls they may come across, such that the ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction: Life Writing, Human Rights, and Young Women
• 2. Malala Yousafzai: Fighting for Girls’ Rights via Collaboration and Co-construction
• 3. Hyeonseo Lee: Seeking Justice for the North Korean People on TED.com
• 4. Yeonmi Park: North Korean Activist and Instagram Celebrity
• 5. Bana Alabed: From Twitter War Child to Peace Icon
• 6. Nujeen Mustafa: Syrian Refugee Defying Labels on TEDx
• 7. Nadia Murad: Yazidi Survivor’s Written vs Audiovisual Testimony
• 8. Conclusion: Victim Girls Becoming Activist Women
• Back Matter