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I argue that the Levitical Prayer offered in Neh 9:5–37 (LP) offers a version of Judean history that does not include the Babylonian exile. Instead, it narrates an unbroken chain of possession of Judean territory that spans from the conquest and settlement of Canaan to the post-monarchic context of the prayer's composition. Drawing insights from the study of cultural trauma, I make the case that the interpretive importance of such a catastrophic event cannot be assumed for subsequent Judean communities who sought to form a sense of cultural identity through the retelling of a shared past. Potentially traumatic events like the Babylonian exile are not actualized naturally; communal trauma is instead the product of social processes in the present that serve the needs of present and future communities. An elision of the Babylonian exile from a piece of post-monarchic period literature like the LP does not, therefore, require the interpretative conclusion that the prayer was written by the descendants of Judeans who avoided exile and remained in Judea during the sixth century ʙᴄᴇ. Importantly, neither does it exclude the possibility that the LP was produced by a community whose ancestors were displaced and resettled in Babylonia during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. Through this analysis I invite scholars to explore a broader range of interpretative possibilities in their study of Ezra-Nehemiah as a composition and the understanding of the defining elements of Judean identity in the post- monarchic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study concentrates on the Anglophonic literature produced in the region of Jammu and Kashmir. It explores its narratives through the lens of trauma theory, pertaining to the region’s history of forced conflict. After the Second World War, the relevance of trauma in literary studies has increased and texts have been characterized by an archeology of traumatic consciousness. Also, the narratives act as vehicles for transmitting stories of suppressed and wounded consciousness. This research focuses upon Mirza Waheed’s (2011) novel The Collaborator and Basharat Peer’s (2010) memoir Curfewed Night as the primary texts and investigates the art of writing trauma by exploring the narrative structures deployed by the authors. The objective is to find out as to how the very act of writing trauma is shaped by traumatic memories of a past rooted in the partition conflict, war, and prolonged violence. Furthermore, the study probes into how the fictional characters embody and express pain and anguish as part of their memories. The key focus remains on how both the works portray the (un)speakability of grief and the (in)comprehensibility of trauma drawing on some of the seminal contemporary theories of cultural trauma and memory studies. Using qualitative methodology and trauma theory as the theoretical framework, it is concluded that apart from presenting reality as horrific, gloomy, and glim, Kashmiri texts discuss how causalities create memories riddled with unspoken fears by bringing forth the intricacies of speechless terror and trauma. Thus, the study captures the narration’s struggle to represent evasive and suppressed memories and the challenges of trauma writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shilpa Raj's memoir The Elephant Chaser's Daughter (2017) and Yashica Dutt's Coming Out as a Dalit: A Memoir (2019) map a specific kind of individual trauma, along with the cultural trauma that is found in other Dalit life writings. Both the narratives begin with the death of another Dalit individual whom the memoirists consider as a sibling/comrade who lacked the partial 'privilege' they enjoyed and the narratives can be read as negotiating this survivor's guilt. Hence, these life writings are part elegies and part literature of protest. They are also part of biographies, for while the writer's life story is one centre, these writings also have another centre – the real/imagined life of the dead person. As the writers compare and contrast their different destinies, we argue that these narratives (1) lay bare the complexities and limits of Dalit emancipation in modern India where the caste question has been seemingly resolved (2) call for an extension of the intersectional framework to analyse the concept of 'partial privilege' in Dalit life-writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author explores current perspectives on contemporary art projects through the concept of the archive. By applying a theoretical framework termed "concern for the archive", the author aims to elucidate complex relationships between the archive as a medium and the situated practices of contemporary art. The paper examines contemporary art as a form of temporary memory storage, particularly through the analysis of Tomáš Rafa's documentary films. It addresses two key questions: What specific aspects of concern for the archive can be identified in political or activist contemporary art? How does concern for the archive differ from archival care, and why is this distinction important?. In the first section, the author discusses the "zones of contact" in political activist art, highlighting the formation of dialogical structures and distinguishing them from scientific research and purely documentary creation. The second section traces the layers of artistic training in Grzegorz Kowalski's renowned studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where the author gained experience in organizing and documenting collective workshops. This part reveals the specifics of documentary video creation with its activist and archival overlaps. In the final sections, the author outlines a theoretical framework for interpreting documentary video pieces in relation to the concepts of archive, cultural trauma, and cultural therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of the research is determined by the need to find ways for the consolidation and unification of the polycentric, multinational and multicultural Russian society under contemporary challenges. The author uses a complex theoretical-methodological approach combining the theory of social identity (H. Tajfel and J.C. Turner), the concepts of “self” (G. Mead) and “personality crisis” (E. Erikson), the phenomenological paradigm (A. Schutz) and the theory of cultural trauma (J. Alexander). The article presents a fourlevel structure of social identity, which includes individual, group, state and global (world) levels, and different types of social identity at each. Thus, the features of subjective and objective identities are shown at the individual level; regional, cultural, national, linguistic, professional and social-class identities - at the group level; state-civil, historical, territorial and political - at the state level; post-Soviet, Asian, European and cosmopolitan - at the global level. The author provides some empirical tools for identifying the affiliative component of social identity at the individual, group, state and global (world) levels and insists on the need to search for answers to research questions about the Russian identity in general, socialcultural differences between residents of Russia and other countries, territorial features of Russia as a state and its continent, the influence of the West and East on the Russian culture, and the impact of global openness and “liquid modernity” (Z. Bauman) on the Russian social identity. The article considers “triggers” for the transformation of social identity, which initially appear either at the individual or global level, depending on the context and social source. The author argues that the study of the social-cultural core of the heterogeneous Russian identity under the extremely dynamic and nonlinear social processes affecting the key areas of Russian life can contribute to the development of a strategy for improving social well-being in the Russian society and to the search for effective ways of its consolidation given its polycentricity and multiculturalism.

This pilot study on humor in cultural trauma uses innovative digital methodologies in speech recognition and social media analysis via Postman and Python in the Twitter API v2 to propose different forms to gather and analyze empirical data on semiotics and humor to be used in a broader context. The given example of humorous instances on the cultural trauma of 9/11 in the fictional sitcom Rick and Morty is limited but corroborated by a second example that is structurally different from the first: humor about 9/11 in stand-up comedy by Louis C.K. Based on the data, humor in trauma seems to undergo a 5-phase-typology related to the Kübler-Ross model of grief, which is mended by the (digital) participation of society. Society, we argue, both shapes the discourse on humor in trauma and overcomes the traumatic effects through humorous discourse.

Jeffrey Alexander's social theory about trauma provides a theoretical framework to explore Matthew's Gospel's two first chapters as a trauma narrative that wrestles in a creative way with at least two significant issues for its original audience: (1) How can Jesus be the Christ/Messiah and yet undergo a shameful and violent death? (2) What are the national and theological implications of the destruction of the Temple in AD 70? Alexander's four dimensions of representations of cultural trauma (the nature of the pain; the nature of the victim; the relation of the trauma victim to a wider audience; and the attribution of responsibility) guide the analysis. Matthew 1–2, as a trauma narrative, processes past trauma to encourage resilience against future traumatization. This can be a powerful tool to shape identity and promote solidarity by opening new avenues for understanding violent imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper aims to provide a comparative and critical view of the psychological and childhood traumas presented in both The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini in order to better understand how trauma defines personal and communal identity. Following the theoretical perspectives from Suzanne Keen, Jeffrey C. Alexander, Neil J. Smelser, Ron Eyerman, and Piotr Sztompka, the analysis explores the symbols and meanings of trauma in these novels. This is due to the fact that Keen's narrative empathy theory is helpful to explain how the characters' emotional worlds are built and thus, the reader gets a better insight of the characters' possible psychological traumas. Cultural trauma theory by Alexander deals with the loss of a collective identity due to conflict and displacement in The Almond Tree. Similarly Smelser theory of Collective behaviour focuses on the social reaction to the trauma in both novels. Eyerman's social memory theory focuses on the process of remembering and cultural distribution of traumatic experiences and Sztompka's social trauma theory educates about collective conditioning, shock and loss in culture. In doing so, this paper shows how literature reveals the role of the written and spoken word in mitigating or magnifying trauma, along with the ways in which literature elicits concern, identification, and additional layers of oligophyleptic acculturation in depicting human survival or perseverance across the life span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bezonken Rood, a novel by the Dutch author Jeroen Brouwers published in 1981 and translated as Sunken Red in 1988, has long been the subject of a fierce debate regarding the Pacific War in the former Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). The novel, a work of autofiction, aimed to bring the Pacific War, which was considered 'an omitted war' at the time, into the public eye. Despite the novel's claim to be true to life, critics identified upon its publication numerous historical inaccuracies, with the most significant critique being that the Pacific War was erroneously depicted as equivalent to the Holocaust. I will study both the novel and debate: I will examine the ways in which the Pacific War is represented and remediated in the novel; and I will analyse the ways in which the novel has contributed to the inscription of the Pacific War as a cultural trauma into Dutch cultural memory. Throughout my analysis, I will draw on concepts derived from the fields of autobiographical writing, critical trauma studies, cultural memory studies, and cultural trauma studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflict in Ukraine has disrupted the lives of millions of people, including orphaned children. Yet, the consequences of the war in Ukraine extend beyond the Ukrainian border. The current crisis also impacts Ukrainian adoptees in the United States. Social workers are in a position to help children and families dealing with the effects of the crisis. My narrative adds another voice to the academic conversation from the perspective of a Ukrainian adoptee and a licensed clinical social worker working on coming to terms with multicultural identity as it pertains to the war in Ukraine. Additionally, it guides social workers who may be working with current or future adoptees in a therapeutic space by emphasizing the importance of culturally sensitive and trauma-informed services to address the intersection of institutionalization, adoption transition, and the impact of the current crisis in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on citizen-led support for migrants in Europe have paid increased attention to history and temporality. This article analyses Norwegian citizen humanitarians as agents of history who use the past to intervene in the present and extend themselves into the future. The analysis relies on long-term fieldwork, interviews and digital observations of 'citizen humanitarians' involved in informal aid and solidarity practices with illegalised migrants in Europe. We demonstrate how collective memories and family histories from World War II provide meaning and legitimacy to their humanitarian actions, including unlawful acts. The citizen humanitarians mobilise 'post-holocaust morality' to draw symbolic parallels between the persecution of Jews and present-day treatment of migrants in Europe and define good and evil in their time. Historical comparisons and identifications with rescuers and resistance movements further enable citizen humanitarians to position themselves on 'the right side of history'. The article argues that our informants, who are 'ordinary' Norwegian citizens, partake in symbolic narrations of contemporary European border policies as a potential new cultural trauma. While highlighting some risks and limitations, we show that collective memories of war and rescue can nourish political critique and subversive humanitarianism. We also demonstrate the analytical value of attending to humanitarian actors' historical consciousness and engagements with the past and future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Filosofija, Sociologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, TikTok has emerged as a pivotal platform, where creators utilize its compressed video formats to mediate the harsh realities of war zones. In this article, we examine 97 videos produced by 12 Ukrainian and Russian TikTok creators in response to the 2022 war in Ukraine. We focus on the playful embodiment of trauma using digital ethnography, analyzing creators' practices and their interconnected memetic communication on TikTok. We identified the use of play through three dynamic practices where platforms, bodies, and trauma converge: (1) the utilization of POV (point-of-view) aesthetic in shareable templates to convey the realities of war from engaging first-person perspectives; (2) the incorporation of dance as a means of embodied creative expression and amplification of trauma; and (3) the harnessing of platform features to facilitate whimsical dialogues with followers about life under war. We argue that playfulness is entrenched in and enacted through platform vernacular modes, driving creators to forge communal ties during adversities and shape the ongoing representation of trauma and its accelerated visibility in digital spaces. We present the concept of playful trauma as a framework for understanding the structural dissonance that arises when creators utilize their bodies alongside platform-specific humorous, ironic, or subversive dialects to perform and amplify the gravity of trauma. This tension provides a unique space for creators to convert their shared experiences of grief and resilience into participatory coping mechanisms. In doing so, they subject and harness their playful platformed body as both the medium and the message, documenting injustices, bearing witness, and galvanizing crowds into action during times of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contextualizes Stef Craps' concept of postcolonial witnessing and Shelly Rambo's concept of the afterlife of trauma to offer a model of Bible study as a postcolonial witnessing to the afterlife. The aim is to identify the contextual and multilayered dimensions of Bible study as a witnessing practice embedded in an Indonesian local Christian community's story of post‐religious communal violence and cultural trauma and its rereading of the Bible as a narrative of the afterlife. The community's story unveils an intergenerational community of survivors witnessing life within the intersection of the rupturing presence of violence, mission history, and its collective memory. I argue that a contextual Bible study from the lens of the afterlife imbued with a local Christian community's story of trauma and witnessing exemplifies an intergenerational, intertextual, and intercultural witnessing of life – thus, a postcolonial witnessing – which is relevant to mission studies in the context of trauma history and interreligious relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beloved presents the strategies of reconstruction of cultural identity and cultural rootseeking of African Americans. Toni Morrison presented the cultural trauma of African Americans with memory, constructing the characteristics of collective identity of African Americans, and used African animist imaginary as a cultural strategy to encode cultural trauma, depicting the cultural uniqueness in the cultural identity of African Americans. In addition, Morrison's introduction of the ghost child "abiku" in African animism belief into the novel, connecting history and reality through the representation of ghost, is not only an exploration of cultural trauma of African Americans, but also a reconstruction of the cultural psychology of the African Americans, contributing to their cultural identity. Morrison's strategies of constructing the cultural identity in Beloved not only strengthened the cultural consciousness of the nation, but also explored the cultural roots of the African Americans by depicting trauma through memory, encoding trauma through culture, and reconstructing national cultural psychology through representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the subject matter of nativism and cultural trauma of Muslim migrants after 9/11 in Western countries in the novel Exit West (2017) by Mohsin Hamid through the lens of cultural trauma theory (Alexander, Jeffrey et al., 2004). The researchers focus on how nativists treat Muslim migrants as 'the other'. This "othering" is based on emotionally loaded beliefs that are based on socio-cultural differences between Western and Muslim cultures. Correspondingly, the response of Muslims to such treatment is a traumatic one—leading to anxiety, depression, nightmares, and existential crises—that is based on similarly-shaped beliefs: highly emotional and culturally based. The consequences of disrupting migrants' cultural or religious identity include becoming more radically religious or giving up their Muslim religious identity. The current study will lend insight into the pain suffered by Muslim minorities in Western countries and contribute positively to refugee literature. It may also assist in reducing an 'us-versus-them' belief system between those of the Global South and those of the Global North. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to present the interdisciplinary project "My Story from Silence", conceived in 2022. The project represents a pioneering effort in assembling individuals from diverse communities, characterized by varying ethnic, national, and migratory backgrounds, along a historically dynamic border. Its primary objective was to provide a platform for these participants to articulate and share narratives previously shrouded in silence, offering insights into their historical pasts. Emphasizing reciprocal dialogue for the first time, the initiative fostered an environment where participants engaged in the dual act of narrating their own experiences and attentively listening to the narratives of others. These memories were explored in group workshops on both sides of the border. By combining elements of cultural anthropology fieldwork and analytical psychology, the workshops attempted to address hitherto unaddressed traumas and silent personal memories linked to major traumatic historical events such as fascism and Istrian exodus through the narratives of individuals. Three vignettes will illustrate the workshop dynamic and our Jungian understanding of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of a shift in focus from political praxis to trauma work in the context of a failed democratisation movement. It investigates the various phenomena which emerge when intellectuals, under the traumatic impact of violence and atrocities, place trauma narration at the core of their interventions. Drawing on document analysis, participant observation and semi-structured interviews with twenty nine exiled Syrian intellectuals in Paris and Berlin who had participated in the revolutionary movement of 2011, the paper suggests that an inversion of the normative power structures pertaining to how intellectuals relate to their publics occurs when they adopt, under conditions of extreme violence and trauma, what we call a radically embedded positionality vis-à-vis 'the people'. This results in the dismantling of previous figurations of the 'militant intellectual' along with praxis-focused notions of the 'responsibility of intellectuals', ultimately undermining their ideational influence upon domestic publics and weakening their political impact and critical role within a revolutionary movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Analytical Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Synesis is the property of Synesis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

AbstractThis article explores the multifaceted role of protest anthems in social movements, emphasizing their dual function as powerful expressions and integral components of socio-political activism within the broader context of symbolic forms, political practices, and material realities, while acknowledging their potential to drive political change. The study examines three feminist protest anthems: Un violador en tu camino from Chile, Baraye from Iran, and Quiet from the United States, which have gained traction through social media platforms. The study draws on trauma, collective identity, and feminist solidarity to reveal the social and political landscapes in which these anthems emerged. It also examines the social wounds they mourn, the blend of verbal and non-verbal elements used to convey mourning and trauma, the collective responses they provoke, and their implications for communities. The article argues that feminist protest anthems are vital cultural and political artifacts that offer feminist collectives a means to address social injuries and their causes, fostering communities and catalyzing social change by invoking shared experiences of a painful past. Ultimately, these protest anthems are discursive practices promoting solidarity, mobilizing against prevailing discourses perpetuating societal injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This interdisciplinary study integrates spatial theory and trauma studies to explore Jeremiah's Temple Sermon (7:1–8:3) as a literary landscape in the context of cultural trauma. This study reads the Temple Sermon as a traumascape: a literary landscape constructed to shape and contain trauma stemming from Babylon's subjugation of Judah. This reading proceeds in four parts structured around the metaphor of the phantasmagoria: the first analyses how the Sermon navigates the politics of memory to legitimise its interpretation of Judah's past; the second explores how the Sermon constructs Judah's past as a geography of national failure culminating in divine punishment; the third examines the rhetorical techniques which position the reading community to affirm YHWH's rejection of their past selves. The final part integrates the findings of the prior three to read the Sermon as a traumascape wherein the tension between remembering and repressing trauma is navigated in the act of reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and discusses two sets of theories concerning trauma. The first involves a contemporary social theory of "cultural trauma" and the second refers to psychoanalytic theories on psychic trauma. We argue that these two groups of theories have some relevant elements in common, despite social theorists' critique of psychoanalytic understanding on the matter. In our view, the most important meeting points between these groups of theories concern (a) the possibility to think that trauma is not welded to events but has a formation process, one of attribution of meaning, (b) that this process has a temporality of its own, and (c) that the environment (the objects, actors, and agents that compose it) has a fundamental and determinant role in trauma formation. Further, we suggest that trauma is still an open concept in psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychometric research is necessary to facilitate reliable and valid measurement of Black men's perceptions of cultural trauma. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the factor structure and internal consistency of the Cultural Trauma Scale (CuTS), using a more parsimonious factor model. The study used a community-engaged framework and was approved by an Institutional Review Board for research with human participants. A principal component analysis with equamax rotation (N = 240) was conducted. The CuTS factors were replicated and measured constructs of Tripartite Police Fear (Cronbach's alpha =.83), Beliefs about America and It's Justice System (Cronbach's alpha =.84), Black Injustice Emotions (Cronbach's alpha =.74), Cognitive-Behavioral Coping (Cronbach's alpha =.75), Willingness to Seek Cultural Trauma Treatment (Cronbach's alpha =.74), and Resilience (Cronbach's alpha =.64). The pattern/structure coefficients within these subscales ranged from.50 to.87. With a slight variation, the results of the present study replicated the initial CuTS factor structure using a more parsimonious measurement model. The factorial validity and internal consistency of the CuTS will advance the reliable and valid measure of Black-oriented constructs among Black men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is part of a larger research, which focused on Romanian emigrant composers in France and their relationship with their homeland in the second half of the twentieth century, based on documents from the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives. An analysis of the numerous notes and reports of the Securitate documenting composer Marius Constant’s official visit to Romania in 1985 sheds some light on how the authorities in communist Romania dealt with the diaspora, the ideological clichés, and on the high degree of control and manipulation that governed the country’s cultural policy.

The paper investigates, through the prism of cultural trauma theories of Jeffrey C. Alexander and other scholars, the case of Cypriot composer Solon Michaelides (1905-1979) and his creative responses to the Turkish military invasion of the northern part of Cyprus in 1974. The resulting trauma from the shock caused by the war is engrained in the composer’s creative oeuvre, since several of his compositions, including the Hymn and Lament for Cyprus and My Kyrenia, became a part of the cultural trauma narration.

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of the representation of the image of the USSR in foreign and domestic video games. The main purpose of the study is to examine the specifics of the impact of video games on the historical memory of the Soviet past. Theoretical analysis. The study was based on the hypothesis that video games in the conditions of mediatization and digitalization of public consciousness turn into one of the significant factors in the formation of historical memory. The research interest in the representation of images related to Soviet history in video games is conditioned by the policy of returning the Soviet heritage to the Russian ideological and socio-political discourse. Since Soviet history, and primarily the period of the Great Patriotic War, has become a significant element of contemporary Russian memory politics, there is a need to analyze the specifics of the images of the USSR constructed and broadcast by both domestic and foreign video games. Conclusion. As the study has shown, foreign video games are characterized by a predominantly negative image of the USSR based on Cold War stereotypes. Domestic video games broadcast various images of the Soviet past, which can be considered as a tool for reflection on the history of the Soviet Union and working through the historical trauma associated with its collapse.

The great earthquake of 1667 is considered in modern historiography as one of the key events in the history of the Republic of Dubrovnik, which had multiple social, economic and political consequences. This natural disaster is the subject of several literary texts, written by authors, some of whom were themselves victims and/or witnesses of the tragedy. Four shorter occasional poems (by N. Bunić, P. Kanavelić, B. Bettera, M. Bunić) were created as an immediate reaction to the disaster, already in 1667, while the epyllion Feniče (Phoenix) by Nikolica Bunić and the historical epic Dubrovnik ponovljen (Dubrovnik Restored) by Jaketa Palmotić as well as two poems in Latin were written after the biggest crisis had passed. Approaching these texts from the perspective of the theory of cultural trauma, the paper deals with the representation of emotions associated with the (post)traumatic social process of community renewal. The paper points out that emotional scenarios in the works of writers from Dubrovnik evoke typical representations of natural disasters in early modern Europe. The analysis considers specific emotional politics of trauma and the emotional strategies through which the observed texts functioned as a social medium for processing collective/cultural trauma.

This essay examines the connectedness between cultural trauma theory and decolonial studies in pastoral theology, demonstrating the denotation of collective trauma in South Korea and Korean Christianity from past colonial and war experiences. Although cultural trauma theory is well established in studying the case of the Holocaust and Western context, it has not yet explored the trauma of the Third World in a fully fledged manner. Rather, it still employs a Western-centered discourse that is unable to explain the disparity of power dynamics based on colonial values. Therefore, a critical analysis is essential to develop a decolonial discourse between cultural trauma theory and pastoral theology. The case of Korean cultural trauma and its relation to Korean Protestantism is a good starting point for addressing decolonial pastoral care in that the Korean church is still complicit in the colonial religious inheritances concerning its colonized ways of thinking and psyche. Throughout this essay, I argue that Korean social identity and Protestantism are reproducing the harmful reaction of in-group exclusion under the impact of cultural trauma. Finally, I provide a pastoral theological analysis of this discussion in order to suggest a new possibility of decolonial pastoral care for the traumatized Korean society and Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its impact on the education, research and health system, Romanian brain drain is still neglected in both the political agendas and cultural debates. Furthermore, the theme is almost absent within contemporary literature starting with the writings anchored in the transition period, which is precisely that of the first significant waves of labor and high-skilled emigration, but also that of some major social and cultural traumas. In this context, Avalon: The Secrets of the Happy Emigres (2018) by Bogdan Suceavă fill up a main cultural gap as far as it individualize the social-historical traumatic experience of brain exodus by means of an autobiographical narrative which offers at the same time a realistic image of the so called "happiness" of emigre scholars, comprising their big efforts for achieving the highest performances in their field of research. Revealing the differences between the American and Romanian academic systems, which are condensed in the illustrative story of the hero-narrator, Avalon... incorporates, as Bildungsroman, a "cultural pedagogy" shaped especially under the guiding of one of the leading mathematicians on the world, Professor Bang Yen-Chen, but which is also grounded into the significant previous formative experience. In the same time, Avalon... offers a lesson of cosmopolitanism, which integrates, by means of literary memory, the cultural values of the post-communist East, especially those of Romanian recent pasts. Our analysis of the novel is focused on the "cultural-pedagogical" dimension of its multilayered architecture, in which the intertwined autobiographical, historical, and sociological levels are mobilized for converting the personal and collective traumas in a project of identity revision and rebuilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article analyzes the phenomenon of the "impossible" stability of the authoritarian regime of A. Lukashenko, as well as the key reasons for its deep crisis, which led to the protests of 2020. The events of 2020 became a stressful "bifurcation point" in the evolution of lukashism and led to its transformation into a harsh repressive regime. Based on the concept of cultural trauma by P. Sztompka, the authors analyze how traumatization of Belarusian society occurred during the period of lukashism. The cultural trauma of lukashism becomes the most important sociocultural task in the process of transition to the New Belarus. The ambivalence of the events of 2020 for Belarusian society is shown: they became a strong socio-cultural factor of both situational national unity, on the one hand, and a strong trigger for internal polarization, on the other. Based on the ideas of K. Mannheim, the authors believe that this polarization is an example of "normal" intergenerational cultural dynamics. However, as the experience of post-communist Poland shows, a rapid overcoming of such a long-term intergenerational cultural trauma is possible, but it is not granted. Based on memory studies ideas, the authors show that overcoming authoritarian cultural trauma requires the development of a systematic "cultural policy" (in fact, "memory policy"). The experience of overcoming the authoritarian past in the FRG, the GDR and France shows that overcoming the legacy of lukashism in Belarus risks being (1) a long, (2) conflictual and (3) fundamentally "unfinished" process. It should include two parallel vectors of movement (dismantling authoritarian institutions and building democratic structures) happening within the frame of a new Belarusian identity. Such an identity will allow reworking the problematic past and set foundations for future national self-identification. Some versions of such identity are briefly reviewed, their similarities and relevance for modern sociocultural trends are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Oikos: Lithuanian Migration & Diaspora Studies is the property of Lithuanian Emigration Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is the wreckage of a broken Dam in Val di Scalve, a remote valley in the Italian Alps. At 7:15 am on December 1, 1923, the Gleno Dam collapsed and the flood wave swept over the villages below, all the way to Lake Iseo and the plain, killing about 356 people (out of a population of about ten thousand people). Our research takes stock of the social vulnerability of the affected communities, one hundred years later, and aims to interpret this disaster in the broader framework of the irruption of industrial modernity in the Alps and its consequences. What did modernity mean in the most peripheral areas of the Alpine mountains? What conditions of vulnerability did it generate? And, under what conditions can the social memory of the past heal the wounds of communities affected by disasters? And under what conditions can it further aggravate the sense of trauma suffered? The research was conducted using hermeneutic methods and qualitative techniques to investigate the processes of collective memory construction, with specific reference to social vulnerability and cultural trauma, among the communities affected by the Gleno disaster. What emerges is a picture of an Alpine community in which the representation of the pain of one's past still constitutes a major activator of social phenomena and ferments one hundred years later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, The Village and The Lady in the Water turn around the need to find refuge from violence, in an updated version of Northrop Frye's garrison motif. The protection that these refuges offer is nevertheless put to the test by the presence of threatening, monstrous creatures. These creatures can be defined as projections of two traumatic experiences: on the one hand, the terrorist attacks of September 2001; on the other, and more significantly, the violence that, according to Shyamalan, is rampant in North American society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the theory of collective cultural trauma, the current pilot study engaged Ghanaian college students in a two-week experiential learning process to critically reflect on both historical and contemporary forms of White supremacy and anti-Black racism. The purpose of the study was to assess participants' perception about the relevance of the history of the system of race-based transatlantic slave trade (TST) and slavery during the 16th to the nineteenth centuries in relation to collective consciousness, identity development, and solidarity between the participants (Africans) and African Americans (diasporic Africans) toward disruption of White supremacy and anti-Black racism. Participants (N = 11, mean age, 22.3, SD = 2.75, 55% male, 45% female) were recruited in collaboration with two faculty at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Although this was an exploratory study, it is expected that participants developed a deeper understanding and appreciation of critical engagement with the history of race-based enslavement and colonization of African descendants in relation to their identity and connection with African Americans. Dialogues including focus group discussions emerging from this experiential learning were observed, recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the Sort and Sift, Think and Shift analytic approach. Based on the data, I argue that critical engagement with the history of the TST and slavery among young adults of African descent can provide a context to: (1) understand the processes by which racialized slavery was established and sustained, (2) conceptualize human rights and human rights violations, and (3) understand the complexity of the identity development of persons of African descent. These understandings are important to shape the memory and meaning making process, foster solidarity among persons of African descent, and develop social justice ideas that can interrogate and disrupt White supremacy and anti-Black racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the articulation of cultural trauma of coming-of-age as depicted in the novels City of Pain and City of Sin by the young Romani author Meti Kamberi. The common feature of these two novels is that they both explore the traumatic childhood and coming –of-age experiences through the main protagonist’s point of view, suggesting that they either belong to the genres of autobiography and bildungsroman. Both novels are examined from the ethnic/minority bildungsroman perspective, with a particular focus on the personal experience narrative of coming-of-age of a Romani minority member in post-socialist Serbia as described in either of the two. Through illustrative examples, this paper demonstrates that the literary and artistic creations of minority populations can be a valuable ethnographic source for investigating their self-representations. The pages of these novels represent a space for articulating ethnic as well as racialized traumas, caused by both personal and transgenerational experiences of discrimination, stigmatization, and marginalization of the Romani population in this region. The thematization of life between two worlds, the dichotomy between the community of origin and the mainstream society, is a key characteristic of the Romani bildungsroman.

Since the end of the Cold War, the world has not abandoned ‘the dream of cosmopolitan peace’ (Alexander 2005). The adjective ‘cosmopolitan’ refers to the political and philosophical concept that all human beings are members of a single community. In the 21st century, however, the world faces a stark reality that is far from this vision, one which is consumed by an epidemic of social inequality and global injustice. The refugee crisis, climate injustice, racism, nationalism, terrorism, and other challenges are rooted in serious, untreated historical traumata which ultimately can lead to a collective form of amnesia related to these respective histories. I argue that to build a resilient, cosmopolitan society requires giving voice and expression to the narratives of victims of perpetration. And, equally important is to disclose the hidden intention in the historical narratives voiced by perpetrators. Through the exploration of these narratives, I argue, citizens will begin to wake up from their historical amnesia.

Architectural ruins in the context of the urban landscape carry many meanings and functions: they reflect changes in fashion, security, cultural values, and show the peculiar struggle of urbanization and the “recapture” of abandoned places by plants and animals. The article offers an analysis of the perception of architectural ruins in modern urban everyday life. Conceptualization is built through such functions and properties of urban ruins as providing a symbolic refuge for representatives of certain groups and symbolizing cultural trauma, i.e. trauma of a social group bound by a common culture and solidarity Based on the observations, the authors describe two cases: the ruins of the unfinished military camp “Olgino” in St. Petersburg and the ruins of the “Enthusiast” cinema in Moscow. Some recommendations are provided for researchers interested in studying urban ruins.

Health disparities disproportionately affect minority cultural groups (e.g., Indigenous, immigrant, refugee) worldwide; enduring across time, disease states, and risk factors despite co-occurring advancements in health and medicine. Fundamental cause theory holds that important social factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, stigma, racism) produce health disparities by restricting equitable access to health-protective resources. Yet, extant literature has not utilized fundamental cause theory to describe the health disparities impact of cultural trauma: an overwhelming, often ongoing physical or psychological assault by an oppressive dominant group on another group's cultural resources through force, threats of force, or oppressive policies. This paper presents a novel conceptual model detailing cultural trauma and the mechanisms through which it may disrupt health and create disparities by damaging three health-protective cultural resources: cultural modes, institutions, and lands. Following cultural trauma, we propose affected groups are socially disadvantaged and exposed to pervasive stress, stigma, and diminished resources, perpetuating health disparities across generations. Consequently, cultural trauma may represent an unrecognized fundamental cause of health disparities, offering potential avenues for promoting health equity through targeted research, interventions, and policies.

Jeffrey Alexander’s social theory about trauma provides a theoretical framework to explore Matthew’s Gospel’s two first chapters as a trauma narrative that wrestles in a creative way with at least two significant issues for its original audience: (1) How can Jesus be the Christ/Messiah and yet undergo a shameful and violent death? (2) What are the national and theological implications of the destruction of the Temple in AD 70? Alexander’s four dimensions of representations of cultural trauma (the nature of the pain; the nature of the victim; the relation of the trauma victim to a wider audience; and the attribution of responsibility) guide the analysis. Matthew 1–2, as a trauma narrative, processes past trauma to encourage resilience against future traumatization. This can be a powerful tool to shape identity and promote solidarity by opening new avenues for understanding violent imagery.

Digital media platforms have been implicated in the recent rise of far-right extremism. This study proposes that these platforms afford emotional processes that lie at the core of far-right movements. Drawing on Randall Collins’ interactional framework and the literature on cultural trauma, we investigate the emotional processes triggered by traumatic experiences within far-right online communities. As a case, we examine how the white supremacist community Stormfront responded to the 2008 election of Barack Obama, by analyzing the complete datasets of discussion on the forum through a combination of computational methods and qualitative analysis. Our findings suggest that the community functioned as a “emotional refuge”, where members collectively interpreted and transformed their emotional reactions, thereby shaping an emotionally energized collective with a focused target of collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the Cold War, the world has not abandoned 'the dream of cosmopolitan peace' (Alexander 2005). The adjective 'cosmopolitan' refers to the political and philosophical concept that all human beings are members of a single community. In the 21st century, however, the world faces a stark reality that is far from this vision, one which is consumed by an epidemic of social inequality and global injustice. The refugee crisis, climate injustice, racism, nationalism, terrorism, and other challenges are rooted in serious, untreated historical traumata which ultimately can lead to a collective form of amnesia related to these respective histories. I argue that to build a resilient, cosmopolitan society requires giving voice and expression to the narratives of victims of perpetration. And, equally important is to disclose the hidden intention in the historical narratives voiced by perpetrators. Through the exploration of these narratives, I argue, citizens will begin to wake up from their historical amnesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]