Author:

Abstract:

In my doctoral study, I am exploring how memories of man-made atrocity and collective violence are remembered within Kurdish refugee families in Belgium. More concretely, my research interest revolves around the complex interplay between disclosure and silence that can be observed in the communication about traumatic memories between parents and children. In my study, trauma communication is conceptualized as a dialogical process in which multiple voices (parents, children, absent family members, the researcher) co-construct what is said and what remains unspoken. In this joint construction of stories of trauma, a complex interplay between silence and disclosure seems to operate. It is the aim of my doctoral research to gain more insight into the nature of this interplay and to explore the meanings of disclosure and silence surrounding memories of collective violence. In my contribution to the conference, I will include a discussion of preliminary findings on the different roles disclosure and silence fulfill in the context of family trauma communication. The main part of my presentation, however, will consist of a reflection on my experiences of conducting the family interviews, with a particular focus on how I tried to invite the voices of children to the dialogue on the family’s remembering practices. I will also reflect on how my social position as a researcher who is representative of a marginalizing host society impacts and co-constructs the family dialogue on memories of man-made atrocity and persecution. One of the implications that will be drawn is that, instead of being merely oriented towards the disclosure of traumatic memories, dialogical research practice with refugee families should entail a respectful attitude towards untold stories.