Trauma, history and memory
Trauma, history and memory

Trauma tales

There was an interesting article recently in the Guardian by James Greig which highlights the whole question of trauma and trauma narratives. Greig begins by observing that: Today, “trauma” is used to describe just about anything: being ghosted, being cheated on by a lover, being betrayed by a friend. In …

In search of the lost future

The ‘classical’ view of trauma is that [i] it is based on experiences which cannot be assimilated, made sense of, by the individual; and [ii] originates in the (early) past of the individual.  Of course, such a traumatic experience need not occur in infancy or childhood; Freud himself recognised that …

Lacan’s concept of the Real

As Dylan Evans points out, Lacan’s use of the term ‘real’ as substantive dates back to the 1930s, and was used by a number of philosophers at the time.1 In particular, Evans cites the work of the work of Emile Meyerson, although in the Écrits Lacan only makes one passing …

Our Island Story?

As the next Brexit deadline looms ever closer (at time of writing 31 October 2019, but watch this space), perhaps this is a good moment to take a step back and ask a more fundamental question: what was Britain doing in the European Union in the first place? Of course, …

Isn’t ALL trauma ‘cultural’?

In a recent post I introduced Jeffery Alexander’s idea of cultural trauma which occurs when members of a social group feel they have been subjected to an horrendous event, which changes their sense of group consciousness, memory and future identity in a fundamental and irrevocable way.  What’s critical to note …

Brexit as Trauma

For many people who voted ‘Remain’ in the referendum of June 2016, the decision of the UK to leave the European Union after forty five years has been something of a trauma. By this I mean the Brexit decision is something that many people just cannot comprehend or come to …

Remembrance of things forgotten

Remembering D-Day The sixth of June 2019 marked the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy and what is often regarded as the beginning of the end of the liberation of Europe on the Western Front. To mark the occasion several hundred D-Day veterans, mainly in their nineties, and …

Lost in history

Introduction: being lost The idea that the Great War produced a ‘lost generation’ of disillusioned and deeply traumatised men, probably represents the cornerstone of the Myth of the War.[1] According to the Myth, this was the generation, born mainly at the end of the Victorian era, who marched naively off …

Brexit as Trauma (part 2)

In my previous article on this topic I introduced the idea of Brexit as a manifestation of a cultural trauma, and discussed Jeffery Alexander’s theory relating to this subject. However, I then argued that there were problems with Alexander’s approach, and particularly with regards to his ‘equation’ of ‘culture’ and …