Tainted Witness: Why We Doubt What Women Say About Their Lives

236 Pages·2017·1.533 MB·English

by  Leigh Gilmore

W H Y W E
D O U B T W H A T
W O M E N S AY
A B O U T
T H E I R L I V E S
L G
E I G H I L M O R E
TAINTED WITNESS
GENDER AND CULTURE
GENDER AND CULTURE
A SERIES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Nancy K. Miller and Victoria Rosner, Series Editors
Carolyn G. Heilbrun (1926–2003) and Nancy K. Miller, Founding Editors
For a full list of titles in this series, see pages 219–21
TA I N T E D W I T N E SS
W H Y W E D O U B T
What Women Say
A B O U T T H E I R L I V E S
LEIGH GILMORE
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2017 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gilmore, Leigh, 1959– author.
Title: Tainted witness : why we doubt what women say about their lives /
Leigh Gilmore.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2016] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016033453 | ISBN 9780231177146 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231543446 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Sex discrimination against women—Law and legislation. |
Sex discrimination—Law and legislation. | Sex discrimination in criminal
justice administration. | Witnesses—Public opinion. | Crime—Sex differences. |
Women—Crimes against—Public opinion. | False testimony. | Feminist theory.
Classification: LCC K3243 .G55 2016 | DDC 342.7308/78—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016033453
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Mary Ann Smith
FOR GILLIAN WHITLOCK
•

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
INTRODUCTION: TAINTED WITNESS
IN TESTIMONIAL NETWORKS
1
1 ANITA HILL, CLARENCE THOMAS,
AND THE SEARCH FOR
AN ADEQUATE WITNESS
27
2 JURISDICTIONS AND TESTIMONIAL NETWORKS:
RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ
59
3 NEOLIBERAL LIFE NARRATIVE:
FROM TESTIMONY TO SELF-HELP
85
VIII(cid:3)CONTENTS
4 WITNESS BY PROXY: GIRLS IN
HUMANITARIAN STORYTELLING
119
5 TAINTED WITNESS IN LAW AND LITERATURE:
NAFISSATOU DIALLO AND JAMAICA KINCAID
133
CONCLUSION: TESTIMONIAL PUBLICS—
#BLACKLIVESMATTER AND CLAUDIA
RANKINE’S CITIZEN
157
Notes 171
Bibliography 197
Index 209
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
his project developed over more than a decade’s interest in auto-
biographical practices, cultural processes of judgment, and his-
tories of testimony. It has traveled with me as I have moved from
Ohio to California and back to Boston, and I owe a debt of gratitude to
those who have stayed with me through these transitions, as well as those
who have welcomed me to new places. At Ohio State University, where
this work began, I thank Nick Howe, and remember him here, Jennifer
Terry, Luke Wilson, and Dorothy Roberts for conversations that helped
me to launch this project. Jim Phelan, Sandra Macpherson, Wendy Hes-
ford, and Jared Gardner offered encouragement, often through their
own fine work. I presented early drafts of some of the chapters during
visiting appointments at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley. I thank Judith
Butler, Michael Lucey, Charis Thompson, Gayle Salamon, Carla Frec-
cero, Jim Clifford, and Donna Haraway for their generosity. Other parts
of the project took shape during visiting appointments and in conversa-
tion with Linda Blum, Laura Greene, Carla Kaplan, and Suzanna Wal-
ters at Northeastern University; with Amy Hollywood, Frank Clooney,
and Ann Braude at Harvard Divinity School; and with Phillip Gould at
Brown University. Many thanks to hosts and interlocutors who gener-
ously engaged with work in progress, including Teresa Brus at Wroclaw
University in Poland, Clare Brant and Max Saunders at King’s College