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Cultures of silence is a term extending an original concept by Brazilian educator [Paulo Friere] in his book [Pedagogy of the Oppressed]. It has subsequently been explored as a general category by academics and deployed as an operational concept by social workers and victim advocates

According to Chris Payne of Artwork "Speaking the truth... is a step toward healing for all survivors."

As a result of successful experience with the concept cultures of silence have been described pejoratively as markers of apathy, complicity in illicit conduct, including victim complicity and as a contributing factor in creating ignorance of public health information, but some scholars conducting interdisciplinary investigations of silence

contend that in many cultures silence is revered. "Cultures such as Japan, China, Thailand, Swaziland, Ethiopia, and Kenya value silence. Asian cultures associate silence with wisdom and it is used to express power". Moreover, religion has long recognized the virtue of silence in meditation and communal life.

The specific phrase received its definitive scholarly delineation with publication of a book by the same title by Paulo Freire. In Cultures of Silence, he set forth a theory of dialogic communication and the thesis that these cultures provide a matrix in which "dominated individuals lose the means by which to critically respond to the culture that is forced on them by a dominant culture". In other contexts, trade secret and military secrecy protocols protect information from use contrary to the perceived interests of the social group which maintains it. include monastic orders seeking spiritual growth; criminal societies, and institutional cultures of silence as may exist in secular organizations which do not engage in criminal activity and whose existence itself is not secret. Inspired by Freire, Armstrong, writing at the University of Leeds, further investigated the use of the concept with respect to learning environments.

Culture of Silence by Paulo Freire
Paulo Freire's origination of the frame of reference has inspired continuing scholarly inquiry, much of which, as with Brown, is not consistent with Frei's association of silence with moral failing tantamount to collaborationism. Investigating "contradictions around the place and nature of silence in pedagogic spaces", Paul Armstrong focused on "looking at how different 'academic tribes' value the use of silence". Whereas traditionally silence had been emphasized as the prerequisite to learning, he sought to demonstrate that "in other cultures of learning, there is a persistent attempt to break or disturb the silence". This opinion contrasts with that of Brown, above, in that it associates Western cultural with a preference with silence, but the preference is situational insofar as Armstrong notes that "one teacher broadly recognising silence as integral to learning, the other who is disturbed by silence as an absence of learning."

Cultures of silence: subsequent investigators
In a paper presented at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Paul Armstrong investigated "how different 'academic tribes' value the use of silence in learning, and how the ambiguities are experienced in different cultures of learning. " He noted that examination of the concept was essential to giving voice to marginalised communities.

"Culture of Silence": Tom Heaney notes that Friere studies are typically fraught with neo-logisms which can overwhelm those who are new to the field.

He identifies the "culture of silence" as a characteristic "which Freire attributes to oppressed people in colonized countries, with significant parallels in highly developed countries." Accrding to Heahey, Friere isolates the phenomena in the underdogs for whom so much of his works seems to advocate. " Alienated and oppressed people are not heard by the dominant members of their society. The dominant members prescribe the words to be spoken by the oppressed through control of the schools and other institutions, thereby effectively silencing the people."

He is careful to point out however that "silence", according to Friere, is not necessarily in accordance with the dictionary sense of total mute lack of speech. Rather, he states that "this imposed silence does not signify an absence of response, but rather a response which lacks a critical quality."

Further, he discusses the effect of this suppression of speech. "Oppressed people internalize negative images of themselves (images created and imposed by the oppressor) and feel incapable of self-governance. Dialogue and self-government are impossible under such conditions. " It seems that a vast cadre of social workers have echoed similar themes, based upon practical field experience.

Ignorance of public health information
Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said, "This culture of silence that prevails in Asia -- good women don't ask about sex, they don't seek to know about sex, they don't ask their husbands or partners about their sexual activities -- puts women at great risk."

Victim reluctance
It has been noted that victims of crime such as rape and domestic abuse frequently manifest reluctance to complain. This "culture of silence" is at times challenged and becomes the topic of heated public discussion when events such as the Duke University lacrosse team rape prosecution break into public view.