Is violence hiding behind bars? Encounters with trauma in the fight against alcoholism waged by beneficiaries and staff members of a small detox centre in N'Djamena, Chad

Abstract

In N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, the idea of 'trauma' became embedded in the 'fight against aloholism' of a small centre, guiding ideas and therpeutic practices in the detoxification trajectories of individuals. I studied this case as one of multiple engagements with trauma in 'conflict-affected' areas, the number of which is growing now global mental health has become one of the new pillars of internatiolnal intervention. Using 'friction', a concept of Tsing (2005), I analysed what happens in the different encounters with trauma in this centre, on the level of the centre's staff, and on that of its beneficiaries. I argue that staff, in their construction of a 'trauma narrative' around alcoholism, also start to see 'violence' in ways that are different than their beneficiaries. These beneficiaries take some parts, but not others of the psychotherapeutic 'version' of their own stories over in their own narratives. The idea that is central to trauma, that it layse bare 'hidden violence', however, makes that the discrepancies between their stories remains. This paradox shows that 'trauma' in a powerful concept that, when applied, can easily overlook or judge alternative ways of giving meaning to violence.