Survival as subversion: When youth resistance strategies challenge tradition, religion, and political correctness

Abstract

A clinical assessment relies first and foremost on a story told within a particular cultural and political framework: what is said and what is unsaid, whether expressed nonverbally or silenced. The goat rejoiced because she was expecting a baby, but just as she was giving birth, she realized she had twins and was overwhelmed because it was too much for her. She went all through the village lamenting. Some time later, one of the kids died and once again the goat was totally distraught, this time because of her loss. She told everyone what had happened, and the whole village became concerned. As everybody was worrying with her, listening to her story and retelling it, the goat felt some relief. This African story evokes the trauma which can be caused by too much or too little, or a loss, and describes trauma transmission as an inherent part of the reconstruction process, which is seen as social. In the goat story, time is the great healer. In this chapter, we will present the story of Agrippine, a young girl from the Great Lakes area of Africa, focusing on the intertwining of cultural and political signifiers, in both trauma and the reconstruction process. To demonstrate the importance of time in the clinical encounter-the time needed for disclosure, for building meaning, and for establishing trust-we have chosen to present her story linearly, as it unfolded, and to examine how different layers of understanding emerged over time. This article extends the clinical process as a dialogue between the two main clinicians involved, illustrating the convergences and divergences between their voices and the images they represent: African and Canadian, black and white. These differences in the team provided a space where the patient and her family could negotiate meaning and take action. © 2007 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved.