Abstract
Having questions that emerged from a research on memories of Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) as starting point, this text aims to discuss the witness figure, apprehending its meanings in memories of violence experiences. Although the witness may coincide with the victim who has directly experienced the violence, these figures are not the same. In the approach here proposed, the witness transcends the experience of violence, being considered in a distinct level from that where violence occurs. The witness is constituted as such in the unfolding of the work of memory by including those who were not there but who are willing to listen to the account of the other’s pain, placing otherness at the center of the process of suffering elaboration. In this sense, the text argues that researching is a way of witnessing.
Keywords:
Witness; memory; violence; suffering; experience