scholarly journals Toni Morrison’s transgressive literary preaching and folk songs as postmemory

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-254
Author(s):  
Ousseynou Sy
Keyword(s):  
Folk Songs ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission ◽  
Transmission Of Trauma ◽  
Christian Practices ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission Of Trauma

This paper intends to study the sermons or ‘‘literary preaching’’ and folk songs in Toni Morrison’s fiction in the light of Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory. Drawing on Hirsch’s postmemory then, this paper articulates that the ‘‘literary preaching’’ and folk songs function within Morrison’s novelistic discourse as postmemory medium that presses against the erasure and the death of a culture and history. The folk songs and ‘‘literary preaching’’ are mediums of transgenerational transmission of trauma and history. Hirsch defines postmemory as the memories that the survivors of trauma bequeathed to their children and grandchildren. Hirsch presents photographs as the instrument through which postmemory is archived and conveyed. She talks about ‘‘photographic archive’’ since photographs can bring back their referents. In comparison, the sermons and folk songs are analyzed as ‘‘oral/aural archive’’, for they have the attribute of triggering memory and postmemory. Also, through her literary preaching, Morrison deconstructs and questions mainstream Christianity by blending it with unorthodox Christian practices. For example, Baby Suggs’ sermon in Beloved gives precedence to the flesh over the spirit, and this sermon is remembered throughout the text as a subdued metaphor.

Unresolved Trauma and Japanese Identity after the Second World War / Trauma No Resuelto e Identidad Japonesa Tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial

FORUM ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Kaoru Nishimura
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
War Trauma ◽  
World War ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission ◽  
Unconscious Processes ◽  
Indirect Transmission ◽  
Transmission Of Trauma ◽  
Unresolved Trauma ◽  
Second World ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission Of Trauma

I have never been in war. So, I hesitate to say anything about the injuries of war but the concept of Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma (TTT) helps me to think about the footprints of war surrounding me. I will focus on three types of TTT. First, transmission through unconscious processes in society as a whole; second, transmission through related media; and third, direct and indirect transmission within family. These overlap with one another and develop hand-in-hand.Nunca estuve en la guerra. Por ello me cuesta decir cualquier cosa sobre las heridas de guerra, pero el concepto de Transmisión Transgeneracional del Trauma (TTT) me ayuda a pensar sobre las huellas de la guerra que me rodean. Me centraré en tres tipos de TTT. Primero, la transmisión por procesos inconscientes en la sociedad global; segundo, la transmisión a través de medios relacionados; y tercero, la transmisión directa e indirecta dentro de la familia. Se solapan entre sí y se desarrollan mano-a-mano.

scholarly journals Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma across Three Generations of Alevi Kurds

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Jan Ilhan Kizilhan ◽  
Michael Noll-Hussong ◽  
Thomas Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Western Turkey ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
Three Generations ◽  
Transmission Of Trauma ◽  
Few Data ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission Of Trauma

Background: Thus far, most researchers on genocide and transgenerational transmissions have focused on the National Socialist Holocaust as the most abhorrent example of this severe human rights violation. Few data have been published on other ethnic or religious groups affected by genocidal actions in this context. Methodology: Using a mixed-method approach integrating qualitative interviews with standardized instruments (SCID and PDS), this study examines how individual and collective trauma have been handed down across three generations in an Alevi Kurd community whose members (have) suffered genocidal perpetrations over a longer time period (a “genocidal environment”). Qualitative, open-ended interviews with members of three generations answering questions yielded information on (a) how their lives are shaped by the genocidal experiences from the previous generation and related victim experiences, (b) how the genocidal events were communicated in family narratives, and (c) coping strategies used. The first generation is the generation which directly suffered the genocidal actions. The second generation consists of children of those parents who survived the genocidal actions. Together with their family (children, partner, relatives), this generation suffered forced displacement. Members of the third generation were born in the diaspora where they also grew up. Results: Participants reported traumatic memories, presented in examples in this publication. The most severe traumatic memories included the Dersim massacre in 1937–1938 in Turkey, with 70,000–80,000 victims killed, and the enforced resettlement in western Turkey. A content analysis revealed that the transgenerational transmission of trauma continued across three generations. SCID and PDS data indicated high rates of distress in all generations. Conclusions: Genocidal environments such as that of the Kurdish Alevis lead to transgenerational transmission mediated by complex factors.

scholarly journals Transgenerational Trauma and Cyclical Haunting in Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meera Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Transgenerational Trauma ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission ◽  
Transmission Of Trauma ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission Of Trauma ◽  
The Way

‘The poetics of trans-trauma’ is my abbreviation for writing that embodies the familial transgenerational transmission of trauma and its relationship to cultural and collective operations of trauma and affect. Drawing primarily on Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy, this essay explores the poetics of what I call ‘cyclical haunting’—a term that describes the way historic and social traumatic affect feeds into subjective and familial experience, and in turn plays out past these interpersonal realms to networks beyond: events, movements, collectives, institutions, milieus, trends, communities, politics, creeds, religions, genders, sub-cultures, nations and relations between humanity and the planet it inhabits. I argue that Barker's trilogy, though apparently conventional, if masterful, in form and language, is radical in its testimony to the complexity and of such cycles, and that as such it stands as a vital cultural analysis and political account.

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