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A rich appreciation of Mother Earth--in the entwined contexts of Native American, Australian Aboriginal, Western intellectual, and contemporary ecological movements--is accomplished in this paper using new perspectives and strategies: Mother Earth as name, meme, and conspiracy. This approach is developed and illustrated to offer insight into the dynamics of identity formation of individual cultures, amalgams of cultures, academic approaches, and ecological movements that span the globe, always occurring in the context of threatening, yet creative, encounters. Projecting beyond the Mother Earth example, the paper proposes a vision of the academic study of cultures and religions that focuses on gesture and repetition demonstrating that conditions of coherence, in the presence of the constant threat of incoherence, may be more valuable than discerning meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public relations is an activity that deals with two central dynamics: that of understanding the phenomena of public opinion from a reading of the publics that are formed due to controversial and relevant issues at the collective level, and that of managing the public visibility of organizations and of people. The configuration of a strategic communication goes through a process of tension and permanent dispute between institutions, organizations, public persons and publics for what appears or does not appear, for what is or is not visible and for what is or is not discussed, as well as for what is likely to appear, be seen and discussed. Our special interest lies in the vulnerabilities of publics to factors that silence them, but also it is important to connect this issue to deliberate silences, to processes of institutional concealment, that is, of what is withdrawn from the public's view or from the which impels them to ignore reality. This is a complex and nuanced process. One that calls our attention is described by Zerubavel (2006). When dealing with these dynamics, he focuses on a phenomenon metaphorically postulated as "the elephant in the room", to talk about something that, despite being in plain sight, is ignored and not discussed. It is a very complex phenomenon, which involves, on a collective level, what he calls "conspiracies of silence" and a discrepancy between what we experience in reality and what we end up publicly recognizing, that is, in the public's perception. Therefore, in this work we focus on two important aspects that are raised by the author: indisputability and the emergence of "silence breakers". To do so, we take Operation Lava Jato as an empirical case, especially the Curitiba nucleus. Launched in March 2014, with the aim of dismantling criminal organizations that operated in money laundering in several Brazilian states, the Operation consisted of a set of investigations and their consequent lawsuits, involving the Federal Police, the Federal Public Ministry and the Federal Justice in Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília, in addition to superior courts and other control bodies. The most famous nucleus, however, is that of Curitiba, which brought together, from the beginning, the then Public Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol and the then judge Sergio Moro. In 2023, the media and the political scene are moved by denunciations regarding Lava Jato maneuvers and abuses. Former deputy and Operation whistleblower, Tony Garcia, went to the media to reveal the coercion, extortion and persecution suffered during the years of Lava Jato. In this episode, we can more clearly identify what Zerubavel calls "breaking the conspiracy of silence", as it is the appearance of people in the role of breakers who will consistently offer testimonies and evidence and who will in fact point out, with the force of denunciation, the existence of the "elephant in the room" in a complete and irrefutable way. Thus, we will dwell here on analyzing the appearance, in the public scene, of Tony Garcia's media speeches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the meanings of silence which was encountered in the ethnographic research of memories on the Istrian exodus and a WWII national "hero" in the Primorska (littoral) region of Slovenia. Different kinds of silence are discussed, from the one deriving from the conflict of memories and power relations, violence and fear, to Freudian ideas of repression and trauma, denial and others. From the methodological point of view the question is raised of how to detect silence when filled with words or embodied. A reflection is made on the impact of research on the silenced communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents for the first time the thesis that the so-called “Epilogue” of Pencho Slaveykov’s “Bloody Song” is a literary mystification. Based on the author’s historical and documentary research in recent years, it has been concluded that the real author of the text is Mara Belcheva, and the literary mystification was carried out by Boyan Penev. A series of arguments in defense of the thesis are formulated, and both the original manuscript of M. Belcheva and a facsimile of the mystification of B. Penev are published for the first time as appendix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is devoted to a group of closely related people who, having fought Bolsheviks, remained in Soviet Russia, adopting survivalist conformism, yet did not avoid arrest, prison, exile and camp; who escaped from the country to save their lives and speak analytically about the USSR; who fell into the trap of a “conspiracy of silence” which still lasts. Firstly, the notion of ‘elsewhereness’ is applied to their life-time peripeties. Secondly, ‘liminality’ the unity of those peripeties with a posthumous sequel, considering them part of the group’s interaction with a hegemonising agency, showing the correlativity between ‘elsewhereness’ and ‘liminality’, and applying theoretic perspectives on ‘liminality’ by Spariosu and Szakolczai. Put differently, I view the condition of enduring a “conspiracy of silence” is viewed as an aspect of ‘elsewhereness’, and the policy of “silencing” the group as ‘liminalisation’, yet recognising that the ‘agents’ of “silencing” are themselves inscribed in a liminal situation. Thirdly, the non-personal object of “silencing” is identified – the set of accounts and ideas ignored due to their unpleasantness or to reservations about their source: the pre-Solzhenitsyn accounts and ideas about Gulag, at which anglophone scholarship arrives only recently as if at its own discoveries, while selectively ignoring the precedents. Fourthly, that set is related to ‘elsewhereness’ and ‘liminality’, viewing concentration camp experience as one both of ‘being-elsewhere’ and ‘liminal’, and the venture to create those camps as ‘liminal’. Alongside with this, the heurism of generalisations by I. Solonevich, one of the members of the aforementioned group, and by some people who, in different times, followed the Solonevichs beyond the state border of the USSR (M. Nikonov-Smorodin, M. Heller), is demonstrated.

René Maran admired André Gide unconditionnally until the publication of Gide’s travel narratives, Voyage au Congo (1927) and Le Retour du Tchad (1928), at which point he grew equally distrustful. René Maran then attacked André Gide’s posture as écrivain engagé and launched a controversy that has largely remained unnoticed inspite of the research devoted to it by Netherlands academic Ieme Van der Poel. The latter’s publication, Congo-Océan, un chemin de fer controversé (L’Harmattan, 2016), confronts us with what I call « the conspiracy of silence », for Gide makes no mention of René Maran in his Journal, and the specialists are equally silent. Yet, from November 1925 to July 1934, the winner of the Goncourt 1921 devoted many an article to Gide’s trip in French Equatorial Africa (AEF) in Le Journal du peuple. I analyze this strange silence in an attempt to unearth its links with political, literary or moral interests of the times, while underlining the egotism of both figures, their competing with each other, their media strategies and, of course, the limits derived from those aspects.

Racism toward Indigenous Peoples continues to permeate the health care system, a reality the authors know all too well in their shared and yet unique personal and professional experiences. Although acknowledging and speaking up against racial injustice is daunting, and is often met with disregard or inaction, the authors contend that this is a necessary undertaking to redress the ongoing harms of colonialism. Correspondingly, those who do speak up must not have their voices silenced. Instead, the perspectives that Indigenous Peoples have regarding their own experiences of racism must be heeded seriously and produce real and tangible solutions. In narrating their own encounters confronting and challenging racism, the authors juxtapose activism and resistance with the preservation of Indigenous Knowledge as a catalyst for propelling the necessary changes forward within health care to end racism. To truly have an impact, all efforts taken to address racism must occur alongside advancing equity of care and human rights for and by Indigenous Peoples at individual, community, and systemic levels. Changes are not needed after more evidence. The time to act is now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we would like to bring to light the importance of Tolstoy as a moral thinker, in view of the brilliance of his literary work has always eclipsed his more philosophical work. Tolstoy, bewildered by the desperation of death and lack of meaning, built a philosophy of love in which he associates one's own happiness with the happiness of others. For the Russian moralist, people who live for themselves can never achieve happiness and will not live. In contrast, people who choose the path of love and the happiness of others will be happy and will truly live, because this is the reason for living, the meaning of life. The person who lives in love lives an authentic life, far away from falsehood. The ideas of Tolstoy have a practical application in clinical practice. Through an analysis of the novel The Death of Ivan Ilyich, where we can find condensed the whole of Tolstoy's moral thought, we will discover the negative consequences that are generated by falsehood when taking care of the sick, and above all of those who are dying. And we will see how the Russian author, without having lived through the crisis of medical paternalism, and even less the appearance of the declaration of the rights of patients that emphasise above all the autonomy of the patient, promoted a model of respectful relationship with the wish of the patient to receive information and know the truth. Through the analysis of a fictional tale, this article aims to invite reflection on the virtue of truthfulness in the clinical relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conspiracy of silence or pact of silence, defined as "the implicit or explicit agreement by part of relatives, friends and/or medical team, of altering the information given to the patient in order to hide the diagnosis and/or prognosis and/or seriousness of the situation", is presented as a possibility for those people who live a moment of imminent death among one of their beloved ones. The ill patient can be conscious and accept concealment with his/her full powers, adaptive conspiracy, or, on the contrary, the conspiracy of silence can go against his/her will, maladaptive conspiracy. This last case is the one which arouses great commotion and diversity of opinions regarding morality and legitimacy of carrying out maladaptive conspiracy. The text aims to reveal the reality behind the conspiracy of silence, with the target of explaining the drawbacks that this pact causes in the three stages of the affected triangle: patient, family members and/or friends, and medical team. With effects such as anxiety, fear, uncertainty, mistrust and isolation, the conspiracy of silence tends to suppose more an agony than an aid when facing a situation of terminal illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The direction of the current study is the analysis of the Gulag and Romanian Revolution of 1989 using a psychohistorical investigation, which attempts to provide a plausible psychological explanation of these two events.The relationship between the communist prison space and the situation in '89 can be exploited from other perspectives that emphasize different and nuanced interpretations which can radically change the old historical vision, which focused on documents (archives) justifying the official history of power. The conspiratorial silence of prisoners, meaning that inability to confess the suffering in the period before 1989, „exploded“ in the revolution through aggressive manifestations in Timișoara, Bucharest and other cities in the country. In the end we can say that the Revolution was that long-expected time for Romanians to express their negative energies, anguish, disappointment in the paternal authority represented by Nicolae Ceaușescu. In 1989, the soul of the crowd (Gustave Le Bon) broke loose after a long period of obedience and humiliation in communist prisons, but also in the huge camp: Romania.

Objective: To explore the factors affecting the family members' decisions on telling the diagnosis to cancer patients. Material and Method: A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured, face-to-face interview with 25 close relatives of cancer patients. Content analysis was performed by two independent physicians who then collaborated to reach the conclusions. Results: Relatives primarily preferred the patient not knowing the diagnosis before the disclosure was made, to prevent the patient from getting worse. Factors associated with this preference included personal experience with cancer patients, the patient's personal characteristics, impact of the disease on the patient's future, the prognosis of the disease, and supporting ideas from other relatives. Once the diagnosis had been disclosed, more participants agreed with the disclosure because of the advantages to the patient and themselves. There were only two who found the advantages but still did not agree with the disclosure. Conclusion: Many factors were associated with willingness of relatives to disclose the diagnosis to the cancer patients. However, after disclosure, relatives saw advantages in terms of health care for the patients. Most family members changed their attitudes to a more positive and supportive view of disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics have long predicted the tension between immigration and welfare to lead to the erosion of redistributive institutions, but empirical studies have found little evidence for that prediction. This paper argues that concerns about immigrant welfare dependence are more likely to lead to one or more of the following three responses: (1) changes to admission policies aimed at attracting those immigrants who are least likely to turn to the state for financial support; (2) restrictions on immigrants' access to social programmes and benefits; and (3) extensive integration services and immigrant-targeted labour market programmes. Combining a content analysis of party manifestoes and secondary analysis of cross-national survey data, this paper maps the views of parties and voters on these possible strategies in 15 Western European welfare states. The analysis reaches three main conclusions. First, the currency these responses enjoy differs strikingly from one country to another. Second, ideological affiliation helps to explain some of the variation within countries. Third, by and large the views of voters and the position of political parties seem to be in line with each other, albeit with important exceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the negative impacts of parental incarceration on families are generally well established, less attention has been paid to the dilemma of how caregivers communicate with their children regarding parental incarceration. This study provides an understanding of the factors associated with caregivers’ choice to disclose or conceal the incarceration of a father. The results suggested that religious or married caregivers were less likely to inform their children, with the young age of children also being a determinant in information remaining concealed. The conviction types of the incarcerated father and his relationships with caregivers and children did not play any role in disclosure likelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conspiracy of silence is 'the implicit or explicit agreement made by relatives, friends or professional people to alter the information given to the patient in order to hide the diagnosis, prognosis or seriousness of his/her situation'. The aim of this research is to clarify the 'Conspiracy of silence' phenomenon and to identify some of the protocols used to communicate bad news. This is based on a bibliographic revision of publications which were created between 1998 and 2014. Among the 14 articles selected, 2 of them were written by psychologists, 2 by doctors, 2 by psychooncologists, 4 by nurses, 3 by a palliative care team and 1 by a theologian. In relation to the type of research, we distinguish 6 systematic revisions, 7 quantitative researches, and 1 qualitative study. According to the results found, there are generally more studies based on medicine and psychologist databases than on nursery. Furthermore, there are more articles published on international databases than in Spanish ones alluding to this phenomenon. The 'conspiracy of silence' is an universal phenomenon with such a high prevalence. The most important and influent reasons to hide the truth are the fear of the possible emotional repercussion on the patient and the desire to protect him/her. The concealment of clinical information has not only ethical implications but influences the care practices, therefore producing consequences on the patient, the family, the health professionals and maybe on the healthcare system. Nowadays the most used protocol in order to give bad news is the 'SPIKES'. It exists a void of specified communication formation and it is necessary to develop communication skills which would allow us to face and to deal with this kind of circumstances in an assertive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article describes the current state of research concerning the fate of mentally ill people in the psychiatric hospital of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee during the era of National Socialism (NS). Sterilization based on the 'Erbgesundheitsgesetz' (genetic health law) deportation to the Castle of Hartheim near Linz, transport to Klagenfurt and killing in the departments of the hospital are documented. This knowledge is to be given to the relatives. Method: Encouraged by diverse public work activities relatives of victims of NS euthanasia sought contact with the department to discover the fate of relatives. Touching meetings with the relatives took place. Results: Since January 2011 the contacting relatives, their motives and the meetings have been protocolled and in this study an attempt is made to give an initial characterization of these people. Conclusion: This approach of a reconstructive biographical work together with relatives of the victims is presented as a proactive duty of psychiatric institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The direction of the current study is the analysis of the Gulag and Romanian Revolution of '1989 using a psychohistorical investigation, which attempts to provide a plausible psychological explanation of these two events. The relationship between the communist prison space and the situation in ,89 can be exploited from other perspectives that emphasize different and nuanced interpretations which can radically change the old historical vision, which focused on documents (archives) justifying the official history of power. The conspiratorial silence of prisoners, meaning that inability to confess the suffering in the period before 1989, „exploded“ in the revolution through aggressive manifestations in Timișoara, Bucharest and other cities in the country. In the end we can say that the Revolution was that long-expected time for Romanians to express their negative energies, anguish, disappointment in the paternal authority represented by Nicolae Ceaușescu. In 1989, the soul of the crowd (Gustave Le Bon) broke loose after a long period of obedience and humiliation in communist prisons, but also in the huge camp : Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Virtual Universidad Católica del Norte is the property of Revista Virtual Universidad Catolica del Norte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Psicooncologia is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Psicooncologia is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses how crimes of genocide go beyond a need for naked power, economic aggrandizement, or territorial conquest. Such crimes involve psychogenic and psychodynamic underpinnings that can be terrifying to contemplate. Yet their psychological study is essential. The Armenian genocide has been taken as a point of reference. Because the Armenian genocide has resulted in nearly a century-long effort of perpetrator denial, it can provide an important case study of how long-standing trauma and denial reinforce each other and illuminate each other. As a result, this genocide has aptly been called the “secret genocide,” the “unremembered genocide,” and a “crime without a name.” The author holds that genocidal trauma (and trauma in general) is contagious and the contagion is likely to be insidious. All who come in contact with it can come away marked, including victim, victim families and progeny, observers, advocates, researchers, and yes, perpetrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem that I treat in this paper is about the fact that people who are about to die in hospital are not usually informed about the fate awaiting them. In Italy, this attitude has remained intact over time despite the extraordinary changes which have taken place in clinical techniques and therapies, and despite the spread of hospices and palliative care wards. In this paper I shall describe the strategies adopted by Italian oncologists to prevent the dying from knowing their fate, the exceptions to this rule, and some of the structural and organizational factors which make changing the situation difficult. The discussion conducted in this paper is based on an ethnographical research carried out by the author in a large hospital in northern Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Psicooncologia is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Exploring Israeli psychotherapists' experiences working with Holocaust survivors and second generation a few months into the violence that erupted September 2000, the author encountered instances of inhibited listening resulting from acute personal stress and danger. This led her to rethink the concept of conspiracy of silence in the context of “a priori countertransference.” Some historical processes underlying this conspiracy of silence (related to Holocaust traumas) are reviewed with a focus on Israel. Suggestions are made to ensure clients optimal listening. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The conspiracy of silence is extremely important due to both its high incidence and its consequences. This process usually occurs in situations of palliative care, or death; however, this concept is also mentioned in the literature linked to other contexts. Therefore, our objective was to study whether the conspiracy of silence may be extrapolated to the context of decision-making on the location of care in old age. To this end, we first analyzed the in-depth semi structured qualitative interviews conducted with older people, caregivers, and professionals, about decision-making on the location of care in old age. Subsequently, a comparative analysis was performed between the basic elements of the conspiracy of silence and this decision-making. Our findings revealed an avoidance process developed by all three groups. Furthermore, this decision-making presents similarities with the conspiracy of silence in the process of avoidance coping and denial that is developed. However, there are significant differences, as information is not withheld from the older person, who has an active attitude in the process of avoidance. Decision-making on the location of care in old age does not exactly match the conspiracy of silence process, but it does seem to correspond to a pact of silence.