In response to the essays by Brower, Adams, and Jones in this volume, this essay argues against the ocular-empiricism of eyewitness by which sight authenticates experience and experience authenticates the seeing-self. The logics that tie experiential fundamentalism to identity politics are inherently faulty and potentially regressive. They lock the “I” in a representational chain connecting that‘s what I saw; that‘s what happened; that‘s how things are; that‘s my/the story; that‘s who I am. Following Scott, the essay favors a critical/creative approach that immerses “experience“ in political intervention and self-making.
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2.
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3.
Brecht, B. ( 1957b). The street scene. In John Willett (Ed. & Trans.), Brecht on theatre (pp. 121-129). New York: Hill and Wang.
4.
Gingrich-Philbrook, C. ( 2005). Autoethnography’s family values: Easy access to compulsory experiences. Text and Performance Quarterly, 25, 297-314.
5.
Madison, D.S. ( 1998). "That was my occupation": Oral narrative, performance, and black feminist thought. In D. Pollock (Ed.), Exceptional spaces (pp. 319-342). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
6.
Minh-ha, T. ( 1989). Woman native other. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
7.
Moten, F. ( 2003). In the break: The aesthetics of the black radical tradition . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
8.
Oliver, K. ( 2001). Witnessing: Beyond recognition. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press.
9.
Patchett, A. ( 2004). Truth and beauty: A friendship. New York: Harper Collins.
10.
Patterson, O. ( 1997). The ordeal of integration. Washington, DC: Civitas/Counterpoint.
11.
Phelan, P. ( 1996). Unmarked: The politics of performance. New York: Routledge.
12.
Probyn, E. ( 1996). Outside belongings. New York: Routledge.
13.
Stewart, K. ( 2007). Ordinary affects. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
