Breaking My Academic Silence to Start Again: Making Sense of Why I Am Here, Moving From the Thin to Thick. Thinking About Trauma and Loss...

This essay seeks to reflect upon, rescue, make sense of, incorporate my "I" in my research experiences with Chilean survivors of political imprisonment. In an attempt to free and recover my "I"-quiet until today-to re-think, remember, and to build while I am standing in the middle of the process, I will tell some "moments" and situations I experienced during my research with some of the members of this Chilean group. I will use storytelling, counter-story-telling, performance texts, and short stories associated with the concepts of "victim," "trauma," "study subject," "ethical aspects," and "initial researcher background." This is an attempt to move me past my "thin"-previous form to making research-to "thick description-as-inscription." I am thinking about, and developing the Framing the research question. Finally, I will develop some recommendations that might be useful for researchers who are interested in working and addressing these issues.