ABSTRACT
In South Africa, one might think that the market for traumatic storytelling would be flooded with victims ready to tell their stories. Nearly fifty years of apartheid rule—not to mention 350 years of colonial domination—has meant that most South Africans have been touched by political violence of one form or another. As the TRC demonstrated, however—and as storytelling at Khulumani monthly meetings confirmed—not all victims of South Africa’s past have stories that are of equal interest to those listening. The hierarchy of victimhood described in the previous three chapters was established not only through the TRC’s focus on gross violations of human rights but also in the everyday interactions between victims themselves and between victims and therapists, researchers, journalists, and other witnesses. In the process, some victims have proven more successful in making themselves heard than others. At Khulumani, for example, a small core of members emerged as the primary storytellers in the group. Many were leaders in the group as well but what they all shared was a well-developed and compelling capacity for storytelling and an indefatigable energy for this kind of narrative labor. Brian’s dramatic storytelling, described at the beginning of Chapter 4, reflected the broad style of self-presentation among these more prominent and active of Khulumani’s victim-storytellers.
