Globalization and the Theory of Trauma

Abstract

In the interview with Cathy Caruth, “Globalization and the Theory of Trauma,” the term “trauma” (and its variants) becomes a lever for rethinking the study of globalization and the concepts that would be indispensable for that study. Caruth shows how a renewed attention to how the experience of trauma changes the way we think about translation, comparison, politics, and even death. In the end, Caruth suggests that trauma opens up these terms to an internal vulnerability, thus making literature, which is always moving outside of itself, a significant “site” for thinking through this radical exposure.