Decolonization of trauma and memory politics: insights from Eastern Europe

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Collection:
Mokslo publikacijos / Scientific publications
Document Type:
Straipsnis / Article
Language:
Anglų kalba / English
Title:
Decolonization of trauma and memory politics: insights from Eastern Europe
In the Journal:
Humanities (Basel). 2016, 5, 7, 1 pdf (13 p.)
Summary / Abstract:

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Atminties politika; Baltijos šalys (Baltic states); Postkolonializmas; Rytų Europos šalys (Eastern Europe states); Trauminė atmintis; Eastern Europe; Memory politics; Postcolonialism; The Baltic states; Traumatic memory.

ENThe movement to decolonize trauma theory conceptualizes traumas as rooted in particular contexts. Scholars working within this framework caution against the monumentalism of traumas as singular events and press for the acknowledgment of traumas experienced by minorities and liminal groups. In addition, this body of literature suggests a question of fundamental significance to memory politics: How to make sure that postcolonial attempts to memorialize the traumatic histories of colonialism do not become sources of state subjugation and oppression? Using examples from Eastern Europe, this article analyzes the complexity of memory landscapes in this region and the difficulty of acknowledging traumas of “non-Western” groups on their own terms. Drawing on works by three authors from the region (Ene Kõresaar, Svetlana Aleksievich and Jasmina Husanovic), this essay identifies alternative ways of thinking about the nexus of trauma and difference by addressing how complexity and vulnerability can help to transcend competing victimhoods in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. [From the publication]

DOI:
10.3390/h5010007
ISSN:
2076-0787
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  • Conflicting memories : the reception of the Holocaust in Lithuania / Saulius Sužiedėlis and Šarūnas Liekis. Bringing the dark past to light: the reception of the Holocaust in postcommunist Europe. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013. P. 319-351.
  • The Making and breaking of Soviet Lithuania : memory and modernity in the wake of war / Violeta Davoliūtė. London ; Routledge, 2013. xx, 211 p.
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2022-03-28 13:52:12
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