Approaches to Oral Histories on Medical Violence

Marta Lidia Orellana recalls her encounter with U.S. and Guatemalan government doctors in the 1940s as a sexual assault. In the 1940s, the United States Public Health Service led a study in which they intentionally-infected sex workers, prisoners, soldiers, and psychiatric patients with sexually-transmitted infections. Orellana, who was an orphan at the national orphanage in Guatemala City, three of her children, and one grandchild have tested positive for syphilis, although no evidence exists at this time proving that medical doctors intentionally-infected orphans. Since the revelation of the experiments in 2010, Orellana has navigated a baroque criminal justice system in Guatemala. In 2011, she had to leave her home in Guatemala City when she was extorted by her neighbor who thought she received money from foreign organizations. This paper will reflect upon my own ethical approach in conducting oral history interviews on medical experimentation through a careful analysis of my interview with Orellana. It will discuss limitations in the oversight offered by the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) during a neoliberal era in addressing the complexities of conducting research in contexts marked by impunity and violence. In this reflection essay, I will ask how can we as feminist researchers avoid narrowly interpreting what constitutes ethical methodological approaches in order to avoid repeating breaches carried out by medical doctors and social scientists in the past.