Genocide, memory and art the focus of USF conference

Posted Jan 26, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jan 27, 2012 at 02:36 PM

More than 50 scholars will spend three days at USF next week talking about the wrenching topic of genocide across the world.

They’re drawn together by the idea that amid the horrors, incredibly, there is also beauty – or at least the desperate will to find a way to keep living.

People around the world are working to “break the silence and restore dignity to those who died,” say the organizers of “Violence, Memory and Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Conference.”

Says anthropology professor Elizabeth Bird: “Our speakers, whose areas of expertise span the globe, show us that mass violence, whether based on religious, ethnic, or political hostility, has plagued humanity throughout history and into the present. Yet the future is not hopeless.”

Mass graves, for instance, have become a powerful source of evidence to validate witnesses’ accounts, “whether the outcome is prosecution or more simply ‘to set the record straight.’ ”

The speakers will share their studies of mass violence, survival and reconciliation from around the world - Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria.

What the Heart Remembers

They’ll examine memoirs, poems and theater productions, including USF’s “What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur.”

You can go here to see the conference schedule and description.

It starts Monday morning and it’s open to the public.