Materialized Trauma Narratives of Border Crossings

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss the applicability of the concept of materialized narrative in the analysis of border and mobility related experiences. In this article, the concept and its analytical potential are discussed in three examples that address difficult, even traumatic experiences related to various kinds of border crossings in Finnish and Estonian contexts. The concept of materialized narrative allows the conceptualization of border and mobility related traumas in supplementary and alternative ways. The materialized narrative is defined as a form of narrative and non-narrative knowledge that is linked with objects that people carry with them across various borders and their difficult experiences. The aim of the concept is to bring together the narrative and non-narrative knowledge of traumatic experiences that is embodied in a material object. The research thesis of the article is to examine how a materialized narrative can function as a trauma narrative. The article argues that materialized narratives can function as instruments for processing traumatic experiences related to border crossings, similarly to autobiographical trauma narratives that are regarded to be among the most central narrative forms analyzed in multidisciplinary trauma research. The research material includes interviews and artwork accomplished in the project “A Lost Mitten and Other Stories: Experiences of Borders, Mobilities, and New Neighbor Relations” (funded by the Kone Foundation).