“You Only Have Your Word:” Rape and Testimony

“The definition of rape in international law is in flux, as the controversy over the differences between a “mechanical” and a “conceptual” definition has shown. This article explores the intersection of three contradictory premises about the narrative testimony of rape that arises from the problem of defining the crime. It explores this intersection through the frames of legal theory, visual theory, and narrative texts, drawing its examples from the Rwandan genocide, where the correlation of narrative testimony to the production of images shaped a rich vein of philosophical inquiry into the nature of witnessing”