Listening to silence – trauma and recovery in post-golpe Chile. (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kent, Lindsey
• Is Part Of: BJPsych international. Volume 14:Number 2(2017)
• Page Start: 47
• Page End: 48
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: Psychiatry, Transcultural -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Comparative psychiatry -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1192/S2056474000001793
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2056-4740

Abstract

Abstract : I visited Chile for the first time in 2003. Over the course of the 12 months during which the country became my home, I realised there was a secret side to the capital city, Santiago. Never was this clearer than when I witnessed a demonstration to mark the 30th anniversary of the 11 September 1973 coup, when General Pinochet took power. I watched tears stream down the cheeks of men and women as they sang along with the revolutionary Cuban folk singer Silvio Rodriguez, raising their fists in the air. I felt the distrust of and anger towards the police who lined rooftops with snipers and the military units which filled side streets with water cannons. It was a visceral experience, made more so by the contrast with day-to-day life on the city's streets. This was a boom town, proud of its malls and economic growth, and the residents of Santiago made every effort to remark upon their high standards of living.