
The Witness as Educator
Reading W. G. Sebald, Aime Cesaire, and Walt Whitman
David T. Hansen(Author)
State University of New York Press
Will be published approx. on 2. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
241 pages
979-8-8558-0348-8 (ISBN)
Description
Illuminates the power in bearing witness as an ethical orientation toward the world and its people.
In The Witness as Educator, David T. Hansen examines the idea of bearing witness. He shows how it constitutes an ethical orientation that heeds human yearnings for justice, beauty, and meaning. He engages the work of three exemplary witnesses: W. G. Sebald, Aime Cesaire, and Walt Whitman. Sebald powerfully confronts the human costs of the violence of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Cesaire evokes a creative Black consciousness in the face of European colonialism and attests to this outlook's joyous and painful development. Whitman's witness to American life, alongside his poignant testimony about caring for wounded soldiers during the American Civil War, speaks to a hope deeper than hope for the prospects of democracy. Hansen shows how these witnesses did not "choose" to write about their respective themes. They had to. The circumstances of their lives and the events of their time summoned them to bear witness. Hansen addresses how their efforts, supplemented by those of other witnesses whose testimony he incorporates, hold considerable educational promise in a world marked by continued misunderstanding and discord and yet also by great possibility.
In The Witness as Educator, David T. Hansen examines the idea of bearing witness. He shows how it constitutes an ethical orientation that heeds human yearnings for justice, beauty, and meaning. He engages the work of three exemplary witnesses: W. G. Sebald, Aime Cesaire, and Walt Whitman. Sebald powerfully confronts the human costs of the violence of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Cesaire evokes a creative Black consciousness in the face of European colonialism and attests to this outlook's joyous and painful development. Whitman's witness to American life, alongside his poignant testimony about caring for wounded soldiers during the American Civil War, speaks to a hope deeper than hope for the prospects of democracy. Hansen shows how these witnesses did not "choose" to write about their respective themes. They had to. The circumstances of their lives and the events of their time summoned them to bear witness. Hansen addresses how their efforts, supplemented by those of other witnesses whose testimony he incorporates, hold considerable educational promise in a world marked by continued misunderstanding and discord and yet also by great possibility.
Reviews / Votes
"A brilliant and beautiful book" - James Garrison, coauthor of Democracy and Education Reconsidered: Dewey After One Hundred Years"An original and powerful piece that is beautifully written. The attention to the particular is fascinating and powerful." - Cara Furman, coeditor of Teachers and Philosophy: Essays on the Contact Zone
"The Witness as Educator stands in a class by itself. It is one of the most innovative and transformative books I have read in years. It directly addresses the most important, pressing, and challenging issues humanity must confront: How does one bear witness to these experiences? And how does bearing witness help educate oneself and others?" - Benjamin Paxton, University of Virginia, School of Education and Human Development
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
399 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-8558-0348-8 (9798855803488)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2025
State University of New York Press
€36.99
Available for download
Person
David T. Hansen is the Weinberg Professor in Philosophy and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is the author of Reimagining the Call to Teach: A Witness to Teachers and Teaching and The Teacher and the World: A Study of Cosmopolitanism as Education.
Content
Foreword
Rachel Wahl
Preface
1. A Perspective on Bearing Witness
2. W. G. Sebald: Rightful Trespass into the Lives of Others
3. Aime Cesaire: Witnessing Transformation in Self and World
4. Walt Whitman: Democracy, Remembrance, and the Witness
5. Bearing Witness and Education
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Name Index
Subject Index
Rachel Wahl
Preface
1. A Perspective on Bearing Witness
2. W. G. Sebald: Rightful Trespass into the Lives of Others
3. Aime Cesaire: Witnessing Transformation in Self and World
4. Walt Whitman: Democracy, Remembrance, and the Witness
5. Bearing Witness and Education
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Name Index
Subject Index