Perspective Of Trauma Theory Research Articles

Success Story or Traumatic Experience? An Attempt to Integrate Trauma Theory with Oral History Research for the Interpretation of First-Person Stories

This article focuses on the following issues: (1) how a narrator describes life under political repression in a retrospective first-person story; (2) the extent to which such a story can be analysed from the perspective of trauma theory; (3) what the use of trauma theory in combination with the methods of folk narrative and oral history research can offer for a more diverse interpretation of such a story. The story selected for observation was written in 2001, focusing on events in Soviet Estonia (1940–1941, 1944–1991). At the time of telling this story, the Soviet era was publicly interpreted as a period of interruption of Estonian cultural and political continuity. Social scientists observed the Soviet period from the perspective of cultural trauma. In this way, the narrator presented complex past events in a framework that points to the restoration of historical justice. Although this story represents a positive attitude towards historical and cultural developments in Estonia, the analysis of this story indicates that traces of trauma can be found at the levels of the story that reflect the formation of the narrator’s identity.

An Analysis of Hassan's Growth Process in Memory of Departure from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

An Analysis of Hassan's Growth Process in Memory of Departure from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

A Study on the Narrative Methods of Times Still Turns the Pages from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

Times Still Turns the Pages (2023) is a feature film directed by Hong Kong director Zhuo Yiqian and produced by Er Dongsheng. The film received five nominations at the 60th Golden Horse Awards and was shortlisted for the World Focus Unit at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival. The story begins with an unclaimed anonymous suicide note, triggering middle school teacher Zheng Sir’s search for the story behind the suicide note. This search process evoked the painful memory of his brother’s suicide when he was young, allowing him to re-face the trauma deep in his heart. Through this story, the film reveals the family, campus and social issues behind the phenomenon of teenage suicide. On a deeper level, it explores the short life span of a damaged soul and how the living carry trauma and heal themselves. The film explores how people face, understand and deal with trauma, and raises the possibility of rebuilding the ruins of the soul through love and telling.

Analysis of Impact of the Holocaust on the Characters in Enermies, A Love Story from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

Holocaust literature has been widely concerned in the field of literature. Based on trauma theory, this article analyzes the impact of the Holocaust on the characters in Singer's Enemy, A Love Story. This study is mainly divided into three parts: trauma theory and overview of war trauma, trauma sources of characters, trauma symptoms of characters and trauma recovery status. The study found that the characters in the novel are generally traumatized by the Holocaust. They suffer from flashbacks of painful memories, hypervigilance and fear, but they are also repairing the trauma through their own efforts or the help of others. Further research is needed to explore the wider impact of the Holocaust on individuals and groups and the effectiveness of different strategies for repairing trauma.

Exploring Memory and Consequence in Maus through Visual Symbol Counterparts from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

Exploring Memory and Consequence in <i>Maus</i> through Visual Symbol Counterparts from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

On Sethe’s Trauma and Recovery in Beloved from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

This article is devoted to the study of trauma portrayed in the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison. The subject of the study is Sethe, the protagonists in the novel, who not only suffers from physical pain but also has to bear great mental pressure. The aim of the research is to find out the root causes and the recovery process of Sethe’s trauma, and then explore Toni Morrison’s writing ideas and the black spirit in her works. The major research methods are text analysis and social and historical criticism. How to heal the historical trauma that has been deposited in the hearts of the black people for such a long time and get rid of the misunderstanding of themselves? This is not only the question that the author has pondered over for a long time, but also a thought-provoking question to all the readers.

Micah 1–3 and Cultural Trauma Theory: An Exploration

AbstractTrauma studies have seen rapid growth in popularity within the past two decades, moving from a psychological phenomenon to a concept utilized by literary critics, sociologists, and now biblical scholars. Yet, most of the work on trauma theory within biblical studies focuses on psychological aspects of trauma instead of sociological or cultural aspects of trauma. Drawing on Jeffery Alexander’s theory of cultural trauma, a cultural trauma reading of Micah 1–3 reveals how Micah 1–3 as a book transforms Micah’s localized psychological trauma to become a national trauma, explaining why scribes preserved Micah 1–3. Like holocaust testimony that became a cultural trauma, Micah’s testimony to his trauma became a trauma for all of Judea. To create a cultural trauma, Micah 1–3 define the trauma as divine punishment through an Assyrian invasion due to a breakdown of social order seen in the corrupt owners, rulers, and religious leaders. This cultural trauma then becomes one of the early texts to shape later biblical writers’ understanding of divine punishment. This article offers a different perspective of trauma theory and shows how cultural trauma theory explains why Micah 1–3 were preserved.

Analysis of A Rose for Emily From the Perspective of Trauma Theory

Analysis of A Rose for Emily From the Perspective of Trauma Theory

A Study on The Horse Whisperer From the Perspective of Trauma Theory

In The Horse Whisperer, Nicolas Evans explains, by in-depth discussion about issues like marital relations, family education, initiation process and trauma recovery, how the protagonists get cured and finally walk out of darkness and trauma, and how they become confident in that the future of their life will be brighter and brighter. Of all the literature reviews conducted around this book, few are from the perspective of trauma theory. It is under this context that this paper conducts its study.

Body-speak: Poetic intervention for adult survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) – An autoethnographic approach

In this article, I consider what it means to think with the body from the perspective of trauma theory and adult recovery from Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA). I argue that acknowledging, cultivating and normalizing the multi-temporality of awareness that comes from healing and thinking with the body can lead to an integrative survivor-centered praxis of recovery and inclusion. Through a feminist and autoethnographic lens, I suggest that trauma theory shows us that if we are to adequately include survivors of CSA in contemporary dialogues of reclaiming and prevention against sexual violence, we must foster collective participation in non-normative modes of meaning-making. Doing so can cultivate wide-spread understanding and appreciation of implicit memory and knowledge.

The Writings: Job–Sirach

The WritingsJob–Sirach Brian J. Meldrum, Christopher T. Begg, Fred W. Guyette, John M. Halligan, Martin Nitsche, Mathias Winckler, and Thomas Hieke Brian J. Meldrum Catholic University of America Christopher T. Begg Catholic University of America Fred W. Guyette Erskine College and Seminary John M. Halligan St. John Fisher College Martin Nitsche Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main Mathias Winckler Universität Siegen Thomas Hieke Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz 1393. [Job in Jewish Tradition] Jehoschua Ahrens, "Vertrauen trotz alledem. Das Buch Ijob in der jüdischen Auslegungstradition," BK 75 (2020) 168-74. A. provides an overview of Jewish interpretation of the Book of Job. The Book of Job hardly plays a role in the Jewish liturgy. Nevertheless, over the centuries a rich inner-Jewish tradition of interpretation emerged. Traditionally, Moses is considered to be the author who wrote the book in order to comfort the Israelites in their sufferings on the way out of Egypt. Famous rabbis interpret the book especially in philosophical terms, in which it becomes clear that the text does not have to be understood literally, but rather allegorically and that Job is justified in the end. His life is restored; he gets back his children and possessions that Satan did not destroy, but just hid from him in order to test Job. In the end, we all can trust in God at any time—against all odds. [Adapted from published abstract.—T.H.] Google Scholar 1394. [Job] Lennart Bostrom, "Another Ending to the Book of Job," W&W 40 (3, 2020) 300-307. Let us consider the possibility that there are two different endings to the story of Job. (1) In one version, the Book of Job ends with the Elihu speeches, and (2) in the other version, the book ends with the speeches of Yhwh. These two ending are contradictory, but in a way typical of OT texts, both versions have been preserved next to each other. They stand in sharp tension with each other when it comes to the concept of God's transcendence or God's nearness to the suffering person. So, the conclusion concerning the function of the Elihu speeches is that they could well have been, in some version of Job, the end of the poetry section of the book that was followed only by the epilogue. Elihu's reasoning brings the arguments of the three friends further along and strongly emphasizes the transcendence of God and the impossibility for Job to expect any direct intervention from God. His only [End Page 510] hope is submissiveness and regret for his strong words. But if the Yhwh speeches follow Job's claim of innocence, it is the other way around. There the transcendent God breaks in and makes Job understand that he lacks a larger perspective on the ways of the world. In the final form of the book, as it has been preserved, these two contrasting endings of the poetry section follow one another, the first one ending with the assertion that God will not answer, and the next one opening with the statement that the Lord answered Job. The beginning of the Yhwh speeches is traditionally translated with the conjunction "then": "Then the Lord answered Job …" But in this final version of the book, following the Elihu speeches it would be more fitting to emphasize the contrast by translating it adversatively: "But Yhwh answered Job. …"—F.W.G. Google Scholar 1395. [Job] Dorothea Erbele-Küster, "Von Erschütterungen erzählen (Ijob 1,13-19). Zu einer zentralen Diskursform der biblischen Traumaliteratur," BK 75 (2020) 151-54. E.-K. interprets the Book of Job from the perspective of trauma theory. Disturbing and traumatic events can leave one speechless. The Bible offers various forms of discourse which react to such experiences and through which new perspectives can be opened up. Examples are the lamentation to God as well as a dialogical narration with a human counterpart. In the Book of Job both of these speech forms are encountered. Lamentation and dialogical narration enable Job to speak and act once again. [Adapted from published abstract—T.H.] Google Scholar 1396. [Metaphoric Chains in the...

Causes and Effects of Trauma in Bhutanese Nepali Diasporic Poetry

This study aims to explore the causes and effects of trauma in Bhutanese Nepali diasporic poetry. It discusses the connection between the individual and collective trauma. Bhutanese Nepali diasporic poetry gives expression to centuries-long marginalization and sufferings of this community. The series of suffering started from the time the people of Nepali origin reached Bhutan for permanent settlement. It continued with their expulsion, life as refugees and finally in the resettled life in the West. Their experiences of suffering caused trauma on both the personal and collective levels. To explore how it is represented in their poetic creations, I have done this study with the use of constructivist trauma theory in the analysis of the six purposively selected poems that deal with causes and effects of trauma. Constructivist trauma theory deals with trauma as a social construct. The experiences of the people are traumatic, and the discourses on trauma make the individual and social trauma acute and understandable. The study has found that the history of sufferings and the consequent experiences are the causes of their trauma. As a result of trauma, their mentality has been badly affected. The speakers in the poems and the community at the level of representation have been fearful, purposeless and disoriented. The victims’ vulnerable existential condition has been reflected in their alternative mode of living on, disability, helplessness and aloneness that has caused significant bearing on the construction of their identity. Their psychology has been filled with troubling past and unstable present mentality resulting into the feeling of being demeaned and diminished. At the same time, these poems have depicted the combination of personal and collective trauma. I believe that this study paves way to further studies on Bhutanese Nepali diasporic literature from the perspective of trauma theory.

Trauma and Its Ancient Literary Representation: Mark 5,1–20

AbstractThis article revisits Mark 5,1–20 from the perspective of trauma theory, in light of historical contexts of Gerasa’s collective trauma and the cultural contexts of ancient perceptions of demons and their exorcism. The interplay between individual and collective levels of the story sheds light on symbolic overtones of an unresolved trauma about Roman military presence in the country of the Gerasenes. The story represents this trauma through literary indirection, including not only the enigmatic relation between “Legion” and the drowning swine, but also the paradoxical contrasts between individual and collective requests to Jesus. Mark 5,1–20 evokes meanings not only as pre-Markan tradition, but also as Markan redaction which intersect in crucial ways with the prelude to Jerusalem’s destruction (68–70 C.E.).

Interpretation of Celie's Trauma in The Color Purple from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

Interpretation of Celie's Trauma in The Color Purple from the Perspective of Trauma Theory

华裔美国男性的疗伤之旅——创伤理论视角下的《无声告白》

华裔美国男性的疗伤之旅——创伤理论视角下的《无声告白》

Female’s Identity Dilemma: Two Marginalized Heroines in &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Wide Sargasso Sea&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; and &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;The Bluest Eye&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;

Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) depicts Antoinette Cosway, a white creole girl, who is subdued by both English and black people in a hostile context, and hence undergoes identity crisis. The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is contemporary with Wide Sargasso Sea. It is Toni Morrison’s first novel, which reveals a little black girl Pecola’s sufferings in a white-dominated society and the tribulations black families experience. The two heroines are both driven to lunatic by their torturous journey of identity dilemma. Thus, conducting a comparative study on their shared tragic fate is of great literary value. By comparing the resemblance between Antoinette and Pecola, the aim of this paper is to explore their identity dilemma, rendered by their shared racial, maternal, and sexual encounters, from the perspective of trauma theory. In addition, this paper is of paramount importance to women in rebuilding their self-identity in colonized and white-dominated societies.

Narrative Fictions on State-Terrorism and Trauma: Re-reading Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel and John Nkemngong Nkengasong’s Across the Mongolo

Abstract The relationship that exists between the state and her citizens has been described by Jean Jacques Rousseau as “a social contract.” In this contractual agreement, citizens are bound to respect state authority while the state, in turn, has the bounden duty to protect her citizens and guide them in their aspirations. In fact, any state that does not perform this duty is guilty of violating the fundamental rights of her citizens. This, however, is not the case in most postcolonial societies where the citizens see the state as an aggressive apparatus against their wellbeing because the state is not fulfilling its own part of the social contract, which requires them to protect the citizens and guide them in their aspirations. This unfortunate situation has laid the foundation for protest and anti-establishment writings in post-colonial societies – especially in Africa. Since literature, as a semiotic resource, is coterminous with its socio-political context, this attitude of the state has drawn inimical criticism from key postcolonial African writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Mongo Beti, and Nadine Gordimer. Using Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel and John Nkemngong Nkengasong’s Across the Mongolo, this essay shows the relationship between state-terrorism and the traumatic conditions of the citizens in contemporary Africa. From the perspective of trauma theory, the essay defends the premise that the postcolonial subjects/characters, in the novels under study, are traumatized and depressed because of their continuous victimization by the state. Due to this state-imposed terror and hardship, the citizens are forced to indulge in political agitation, radicalism and violence in response to their destitute and impoverished conditions.

The Synchronous War Novel: Ordeal of the Unarmed Person in Serhiy Zhadan's Internat

In Serhiy Zhadan's recent novel Internat (2017), the protagonist epitomizes the quintessential east Ukrainian under scrutiny today, while his journey depicts working through trauma. His transformation portrays the ultimate shedding of melancholy when, in response to violence, the past is replaced by the present. I elicit some of the key symbols and features of this process, which I call triggered mourning, and attend to the role of real-time menace in initiating it. This article draws connections not only between the story's plot arc and the ongoing war, but also between Ukraine's past and present from the perspective of trauma theory. The four sections of the article (on the transformation, the void, the defect, and the antidote) propose and expand upon the notion that Internat is a synchronous war novel—a narrative that emerges parallel to, and closely entwined with, unfolding warfare—and examine its significance for scholarship on Ukraine, for Slavic studies, and beyond. Trauma studies in the context of literature are central to this analysis, with postcolonial studies providing some helpful illustrative parallels.

Falling after 9/11: crisis in American art and literature

Falling After 9/11 investigates the connections between violence, trauma, and aesthetics by exploring post 9/11 figures of falling in art and literature. From the perspective of trauma theory, Aimee Pozorski provides close readings of figures of falling in such exemplary American texts as Don DeLillo’s novel, Falling Man, Diane Seuss’s poem, “Falling Man,” Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Frédéric Briegbeder’s Windows on the World, and Richard Drew’s famous photograph of the man falling from the World Trade Center. Falling After 9/11 argues that the apparent failure of these texts to register fully the trauma of the day in fact points to a larger problem in the national tradition: the problem of reference—of how to refer to falling—in the 21st century and beyond

从创伤理论视角看电影《喜福会》中的创伤与疗伤

从创伤理论视角看电影《喜福会》中的创伤与疗伤