Violence and the body: somatic expressions of trauma and vulnerability during war.

Full Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted along the Sierra Leone-Guinea border during wartime, this article explores the contested nature of the body and bodily illness during times of spectacular political violence. For both perpetrators and survivors of conflict, the body and bodily illness became tools over which each sought to control definitions of Self and identity. Finally, the article considers emic interpretations and contested meanings of the local illness hypertension, or haypatensi, that occurred among the displaced. I document how discussions of haypatensi allowed horrific subjective experiences to become mediated, enabling conflict survivors to understand and express the pain of their trauma and vulnerability, and begin recourse toward reestablishing order and control over their lives. Even these discussions of illness, however, involved competition over control of meanings and prescriptive models with medical practitioners. Haypatensi thus reveals how lived, traumatic experiences and their cultural representations within illness are linked.

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Author information

Author/s: Henry, Doug (D);

Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of North Texas, Denton 76209, USA. dhenry(-atsign-)pacs.unt.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Medical anthropology quarterly (Med Anthropol Q), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Sep; vol 20 (issue 3) : pp 379-98

Dates: Created 2006/08/29; Completed 2006/12/05;

PMID: 16937622, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Conflict (Psychology)
Guinea
Humans
Hypertension - psychology
Narration

Narration
Sierra Leone
Violence
War
Wounds and Injuries - psychology

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