Places of Pain and Spaces of Silence: Re-Visiting a Bosnian Rape Camp

Abstract

The relation between gender, silence, place and space is theorised in this article through an analysis of the former rape camp Vilina Vlas in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Combining a spatial perspective with narrative analysis, we dissect spatial practices and narrative silences that shape and reshape a particular place defined by gendered violence. We suggest that ‘places of pain’ and ‘spaces of silence’ are co-constituted through a lack of acknowledgement and spatial erasures, as well as the making and breaking of silences. Our investigation discloses how places of gendered violence are hidden, transformed and forgotten and how women exposing them are silenced and rejected, yet still continue to resist and speak out. The article sheds light on the long-term consequences of gendered violence in war and contributes to the growing research agenda on gendered geographies of violence.