The Media of Testimony

In The Media of Testimony, Sara Jones examines the use of eyewitness testimony in different cultural forms. The focus is on memories of the East German State Security Service (Stasi) in autobiographical writing, memorial museums and documentary film. Combining theoretical models from diverse disciplines, Jones develops a distinctive and interdisciplinary approach to testimony, memory and mediation. She considers the processes by which authors, directors and heritage managers seek to generate authority and authenticity for particular versions of contested histories. Contemporary uses of eyewitness testimony in popular history can extend communities of memory to include those with no direct experience of the represented past. However, this may result in a narrowing of history and a disinheritance of particular social groups. The Media of Testimony represents a significant contribution to studies of German cultural memory and to understanding the ways in which memories circulate and become salient in the media-dominated societies of the present.