Dangerous Knowledge and Proxy-Reasons: A Kurdish Woman’s Therapeutic Attempts

Jihan, a former Kurdish guerilla fighter, struggles to gain medical treatment for the health problems she suffers as a result of war and trauma. The provision of care in Turkey has been motivated by ethno-political security concerns. Therefore, medical encounters are characterized by silences, not-knowing and of averting danger. Based on theories of ignorance, I explore how experiences of war and torture constitute dangerous knowledge that are difficult to share in a context, without a guaranteed therapeutic safe space. Patient and doctor navigate mistrust, silences and proxy-reasons in an attempt to deal with the traumata and violent experiences left unsaid.