Silence as a coping strategy: The case of refugee women in the netherlands from south-sudan who experienced sexual violence in the context of war

Abstract

Sexual violence during war and other conflict situations is increasingly recognized as a severely traumatic event with serious consequences for the physical and psychological health of the person affected by it. A growing amount of research has been done on the functions and meanings of sexual violence in war and on how women experience this violence. Most of those studies have been carried out in conflict areas, however, and not among refugee women who fled to Western countries for their safety. This lack of research is understandable because, although many refugee women have experienced sexual violence during the conflict in their country of origin, during their flight or in an asylum seekers center, only a few will reveal their experiences to others and try to seek specific treatment. It is well known that sexuality and sexual violence are taboo subjects among many people, in some cultures more than others. They are connected with feelings of fear, shame, guilt and loss of respect. Most women who are traumatized by the experience of sexual violence do not trust other people, and are afraid that their secret will be passed on, resulting in accusation or rejection. Sometimes, while these women are still in a violent and traumatizing situation, such as war, they seem to be more willing to tell people outside their community what happened, presuming that testifying may lead to some help in ending the violence. However, the moment the women arrive in a peaceful environment in which they try to rebuild their life, the expected negative impact on their daily lives and their future of revealing sexual violence becomes an extra reason to keep silent. In other words, from the little we know, the coping strategies women adopt are not only culture-bound but also context-bound. There is a lack of knowledge about the way in which experiences of sexual violence affect the personal lives of refugees, the relations they have with others, and their health and well-being. There is also little known about the kind of health strategies women develop in an attempt to overcome their health problems or live with them. In order to address these gaps in knowledge the first author did medical anthropological research among refugee women in the Netherlands from Afghanistan, Bosnia, and South-Sudan who experienced sexual violence as part of the conflict in their countries of origin or during their flight. This chapter deals with some of the results of this research by focusing on refugee women from South-Sudan.1 The main question to be addressed is: How do these women cope with their experiences of sexual violence. Sub questions are: Why and to what extent do they hide or disclose their experiences of sexual violence in their contacts with others? How do those others react to the disclosure? What are the effects of their reactions on the women concerned? And how do the latter respond to these effects? On the basis of the life history of one South-Sudanese woman we will discuss these questions. The concepts of cultural master narrative (the story a particular social group has about itself) and silence will guide the analysis. First we will give some historical background of the conflict in South-Sudan. © 2007 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved.