Witnessing Others in Narrative Collaboration: Ethical Responsibility beyond Recognition

This article examines the ethical responsibilities of relating and responding to subjects of oppression in the context of collaborative life writing. One well-established ethical response to oppression is the practice of recognition. Drawing on the phenomenological ethics of Emmanuel Levinas and Paul Ricoeur, as well as the related work of Kelly Oliver, I raise some of the limitations of recognition, and delineate the ethical alternative of witnessing, bringing both to bear on my collaborative work with Holocaust survivor Rhodea Shandler.