Embodied Testimonies, Gendered Memories, and the Poetics of Trauma: Exploring the Intersection of Deconstructionist and Postcolonial Trauma Theory (Sociology) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798881901738

Publisher: Vernon Press, 2024

Synopsis

"Embodied Testimonies, Gendered Memories, and the Poetics of Trauma" is a collection of academic essays that uses mainstream and postcolonial trauma theory in the analysis of literary and artistic representations of traumatic history. This collection prioritizes historical and personal accounts from the perspectives of Iranian, Arab, Jewish, and Black women to highlight the ways in which gender, race, and religion shape experiences of trauma. By drawing attention to individual experiences of suffering - both visible and invisible - the authors reconsider the basis for collective and socio-political engagement. The book re-examines established postcolonial trauma theory, which can occasionally overemphasize the collectivity of traumatic experience and subsume individual stories under ideological nationalism. Each chapter in this collection explores methods of balancing the pain of the individual and the community through analyses of art, literature, and film. Together, these chapters demonstrate the importance of embracing a dynamic and diverse approach to the representation of trauma that makes marginalized survivors visible while also recognizing the complexities of gendered and racialized experiences of trauma. 

About this title

About the Authors

Dr. Ghodrati's research interests span across trauma studies, literary theory, women's studies, film studies, and contemporary Middle Eastern and diaspora studies. She teaches courses on trauma and creative imagination, body politics and social justice, as well as gender and sexuality in global literature at Emerson College. She has published translations of war poetry, and her forthcoming article will be featured in a special issue of Iranian Studies published by Cambridge University Press in 2024.

Rachel R. Dale holds a Master's degree in English from Brandeis University (2020) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in contemporary global Anglophone literature at the same institution. Concurrently, she teaches courses on trauma treatment and PTSD at the Van Loan School of Professional Studies at Endicott College. Her research examines the detrimental effects of industrial and economic development projects, drawing on the perspectives of contemporary (sur)realist authors like Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, and NoViolet Bulawayo, among others.

Edition details

• Publisher: Vernon Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798881901738
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Ghodrati Maryam, Dale Rachel