Bücher von Simon Turner

Description An eventually uplifting tale of one man's battle to overcome depression, or 'The Devil' as the author calls it. As Kris Kristofferson wrote in one of his most memorable songs:-'You see the devil haunts a hungry man,If you wanna beat him, you have to join him.I ain't saying I beat the devil, but I drank his beer for nothing. Along this rollercoaster of a ride we are introduced to the Gascon version of Arthur Daley, the charismatic ex-paratrooper Pierre Lagaillarde and the Nigerian generals; as well as being involved in la guerre d'Algérie and the War on Terror. We also hear about the numerous health advantages of foie gras and the Gascon way of life, the Planet under Stress, Van Morrison and last but not least the life-saving qualities of both Prozac and landscape.About the AuthorSimon Turner was born in 1948 and lives in Sudbury, Suffolk. He is a former Chartered Surveyor who had, in his own words, 'a notably undistinguished career in property'. He was also an aubergiste and agent immobilier in France for seven years between 1989 and 1996 until he was overcome by 'The Devil'. On recovering he did 'six years penance' as a Private Hire Driver. His first book 'The Waiting Game' was a novel ostensibly based on those experiences but in hindsight he now realizes was more about total mental decomposition.

Based on thorough ethnographic fieldwork in a refugee camp in Tanzania this book provides a rich account of the benevolent "e;disciplining mechanisms"e; of humanitarian agencies, led by the UNHCR, and of the situated, dynamic, indeterminate, and fluid nature of identity (re)construction in the camp. While the refugees are expected to behave as innocent, helpless victims, the question of victimhood among Burundian Hutu is increasingly challenged, following the 1993 massacres in Burundi and the Rwandan genocide. The book explores how different groups within the camp apply different strategies to cope with these issues and how the question of innocence and victimhood is itself imbued with ambiguity, as young men struggle to recuperate their masculinity and their political subjectivity.