Forbidden Narratives by Kathryn Church

Author:Kathryn Church [Church, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9781134317820
Google: xXh_AgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-01-02T05:55:29+00:00

Pat reads an individual's attention to the details of another's oppression as a fundamental measure of the seriousness of his/her political commitment. Thus, she viewed bureaucratic struggles to provide instrumental support as insensitive and gratuitous hurt inflicted on vulnerable people. Not all of the survivor representatives shared this orientation.

Survivor:

Why the hell is so important whether somebody made a mistake at the hotel desk and called somebody at the wrong time in the morning or some goddamn thing. Give me a break! I don't care…. That is not what I am here for … don't care what you pay me, I don't care what the travel arrangements are…. We are supposed to be listening to people's pain.

However, Pat was taken seriously when she threatened to walk out over the issue of arrangements. For their part, bureaucrats at several levels were desperately trying to learn how to provide support while hemmed in by structural barriers which frustrated them almost as much as they did survivors. There were internal battles over the issue of getting consumer/survivor expense checks made up ahead of time. Eventually, the limited money available for the consultation was “bootlegged” through community agencies. In the interim, bureaucrats paid for survivor expenses using personal credit cards, hoping to be reimbursed themselves later on.

Professional:

You see incredible mistakes and when you look back you can't imagine how you did it. I remember telling someone they could have this hotel room. It never occurred to me that they would think they had to pay for it, that they wouldn't just sign it and it would get billed like everybody else. Things were not done in any kind of malice or nastiness. Just stupidity.

Professional:

I knew that I was getting up early. I was doing things for these people that I wouldn't do otherwise and yet just not quite doing it right and not quite figuring it out…. The organization is so bad at dealing with these issues that they put us in a bad position. It was all really unfamiliar territory.

Professional:

We tried to brainstorm and come up with some ideas that might keep the consultation moving and not allow it to bog down entirely in some of the practical things that were making consumers feel that it was difficult to participate. It was my first time. It was the Ministry's first time. For many of the individual staff involved it was their first time.

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