Michael Bernard-Donals

About the Author

Michael Bernard-Donals is a distinguished scholar and professor of English and Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he explores the intersections of rhetoric, memory, and cultural trauma. His work delves into how narratives of displacement and loss shape collective understanding, particularly in the context of historical atrocities. In his acclaimed book, Figures of Memory: The Rhetoric of Displacement at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Bernard-Donals examines the museum's exhibits as rhetorical devices that evoke the fragmented memories of the Holocaust, bridging philosophy, literature, and public history. With a career spanning decades, he has contributed significantly to discussions on ethics, witnessing, and the power of language in confronting human suffering, influencing both academic and public discourse on remembrance.