Paper short abstract:

Crisis has taught Dwana and her Zimbabwean family that words cannot be trusted. It is only by linking their narratives and seeing them in the context of the family's history and culture that we can make meaning out of their silence.

Paper long abstract:

"We don't talk about it. We talk about other things but we don't talk about it."

Dwana, a Zimbabwean refugee who fled to the UK in 2003, is a key participant in my research on the impact of the country's 'crisis' on three extended families. As an Ndebele speaker she identifies herself as a victim of discrimination and violence both at the hands of white colonialists and the Shona-speaking majority. History and personal experience have taught her that some truths are better kept hidden. Within her narrative and that of other family members, themes of silence and trust are intertwined while words are regarded with suspicion because they can mislead or betray.

The family's reluctance to talk about the most recent 'crisis' raises fundamental questions about life narratives as a research method. Because I had known Dwana for some time and was able to establish a relationship of friendship and trust, she felt safe enough to 'open up' to me, but other relatives whom I met within the constrained circumstances of a short 'field' trip either refused to tell their stories or gave me redacted versions. As long as people feel vulnerable they will be uncomfortable about exposing themselves and, however hard one listens to the gaps in their stories, the meaning will remain elusive. However, by linking narratives in a family group and seeing an individual life story in the context of the wider culture that has helped shape it, a pattern emerges that reveals as well as conceals a kind of truth.