Rethinking “transfer” in the transgenerational transmission of trauma: A qualitative study of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence

Abstract

Traumatic events, in their aftermath, often induce feelings of injustice or exclusion due to the hierarchies of survivor/non-survivor, religion, race, gender, and so forth, as well as the apathy of governance. However, the transfer of trauma and healing from survivors to their next generation is conceptualized around the past traumatic event and post-traumatic stress disorder. A constructivist grounded theory analysis of the voices of parent survivors and their next generation associated with the 1984 anti-Sikh violence in India is utilized to explore a potential bidirectional transfer of social suffering and healing within the parent–child dyad. The categories suggesting a bidirectional transfer of social suffering are (a) “child inundated,” due to the inadequacy of resources or support, and (b) “parent’s remorse” over being incapacitated and unable to care. The findings do not clearly indicate parent-to-child transfer of healing, yet there are indications of parents’ healing being contributed to by children’s positive and uplifting experiences in the category “parent’s satisfaction through child’s growth and happiness.”