Through the Agency of the Muselmann

Abstract

In this chapter, we take the opportunity to reflect on the kinds of stigma and shame students and academics can and do experience in higher educationfrom experiences of discrimination and marginalisation to violence. As troubling as these might sound, higher education has always been a convergence of hope and academic performance, on the one side, coupled with the struggles and tensions created by issues of race, ethnicity, culture, religion and gender, on the other side. It is important, therefore, to take stock of the potential experiences of stigmatisation and shame. Immediately, however, it is equally important to ask who bears testimony to and takes responsibility for the shame and stigma, as symbolised through Agamben's (Remnants of Auschwitz: the witness and the archive (trans: Heller-Roazen D). Zone Books, Brooklyn, 2012) Muselmann. To us, this is the role of academic activism-the act of bearing witness or testimony resides in a preparedness to do so on behalf of others. To bear testimony, we argue, is to make manifest our humanity and our activism.