Haunted Objects

“Corbin’s fine reflective work in this book on dictatorial violence in the Southern Cone and the material witnessing function of the object, constitutes a turn in the field of Memory Studies. The author places the object-subject dialectic as the hermeneutical center of her discussion, opening a new understanding of the aesthetic and cultural status of testimony. The question about the identity of the object as a witness and its transcendence, the futurity contained in the power of experience that it carries and the horizon of meaning that it unfolds for those who apprehend it, allow her to propose the category of spectral testimonies as a departing point for a new material reading within the field of Hauntology Studies. A compelling and poignant contribution supported by a rigorous archival and interview work, this book is absolutely necessary for anyone interested in the ethical question of interrogating the past.” — Fernando A. Blanco, Bucknell University