Trauma and the Memory of Politics

A study of trauma and memory located in politics and international relations.

Jenny Edkins (Author)

9780521534208, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 July 2003

284 pages, 27 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

'Power seeks to control memory; to keep it in the realm of politics … In Trauma and the Memory of Politics Edkins explores instances when memory has functioned to challenge the politics of the state. Memory can be harnessed as a form of resistance … The second chapter on the London Cenotaph and the Vietnam Wall is, perhaps, the most compelling of these various explorations of the politics of memory … The sections of Kosovo and 09/11 are also noteworthy. In her discussion of Kosovo Edkins argues cogently for reading humanitarianism as complicit with sovereignty rather than posing a challenge to it. In her analysis of the aftermath of 09/11 Edkins suggests that the state ensured that the space of the political was evacuated. One of the remedies for this (a)voiding of the political is to prevent 'trauma time' from fading from view … [the book] forms a valuable addition to an ever growing body of work on the subject of rememberance.' Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory

In this interesting study, Jenny Edkins explores how we remember traumatic events such as wars, famines, genocides and terrorism, and questions the assumed role of commemorations as simply reinforcing state and nationhood. Taking examples from the World Wars, Vietnam, the Holocaust, Kosovo and September 11th, Edkins offers a thorough discussion of practices of memory such as memorials, museums, remembrance ceremonies, the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress and the act of bearing witness. She examines the implications of these commemorations in terms of language, political power, sovereignty and nationalism. She argues that some forms of remembering do not ignore the horror of what happened but rather use memory to promote change and to challenge the political systems that produced the violence of wars and genocides in the first place. This wide-ranging study embraces literature, history, politics and international relations, and makes a significant contribution to the study of memory.

List of illustrations
Preface
1. Introduction: trauma, violence and political community
2. Survivor memories and the diagnosis of trauma: the Great War and Vietnam
3. War memorials and remembrance: the London Cenotaph and the Vietnam Wall
4. Concentration camp memorials and museums: Dachau and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
5. Testimony and sovereign power after Auschwitz: Holocaust witness and Kosovo refugees
6. Conclusion: the return of the political - the memory of politics
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: War crimes [JWXK], Other warfare & defence issues [JWX], International relations [JPS], Political science & theory [JPA], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Genocide & ethnic cleansing [HBTZ], Social & cultural history [HBTB], General & world history [HBG], Memorials, monuments [AMGD]