ABSTRACT
Chapter 2: Some kinds of violence can only go on in the dark. Even in the twilight created and perpetuated by normative inequality, silence protects the perpetrator and shames the victims. Already wounded in their basic humanity, sufferers – and sometimes also criminals – find no witness and no relief. Gradually, they disconnect from the memories, losing the capacity to tell their stories or make sense of their lives. This disconnection lives on into the next generations as parents and grandparents either fear or refuse to tell their children of their war experiences, or of extreme humiliations. Even when there has been no guilt, but only terror, silence may rule. Here we examine the links between violence, dissociation, silence, and the need for witness.
