Set in the Lake Chad Basin, this essay published in Allegra Lab examines how violence is simultaneously pervasive and elusive, intensely present yet often rendered invisible through everyday talk, silence and rumour. Rather than focusing on spectacular moments of attack, the essay attends to the atmospheres of insecurity that shape daily life, where fear is felt even when it is not openly named, and where people learn to read danger through hints, absences and half-spoken truths.
“There is Nothing to See”: Silence and the Atmosphere of War
What does war look like when everyone says nothing is happening?