Abstract
This chapter focuses on how survivors adapt to living under conditions that prevent them from confronting and somehow finding an appropriate outlet for their experiences. By minimizing their own psychological discomfort and responsibility past painful experiences have become sufficiently detached as to be treated as a part of the normal process of daily living. In this way the memory of extreme events is split off and silenced by indistinct understandings and discourse. For the survivors this has been critical to their own survival. However, this disavowal of the past does not also mean that they remain locked into an on-going and exclusive identification with the present. Though this process enables survivors to adapt to and carry out the tasks needed for daily survival it also produces a susceptibility to anxiety, rage and depression, a sense of helplessness, an inability to concentrate, fear and a retreat into dependency.
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Notes
- 1.
For Carnes , P.J., trauma splitting is defined as the aspect of betrayal bonds that ignores “traumatic realities by splitting off the experiences and not integrating them into personality or daily life.” Carnes, P.J., (1997: 14–17); see also Kristeva, J. (1982); (1984); LaCapra, D. (2001:39ff) ; Blustein, J. (2003); LaCapra, D. (2004); Lepore, S.J. Revenson, T.A., (2006); Staub, E. (2003); Blustein, J. (2008).
- 2.
Psychic splitting also provides people with a means by which they can protect their children from knowing about what they lived through. See Erdinast-Vulcan, D. (2012: 314) in Lothe, J. Suleiman, S. R. & Phelan, J. (2012).
- 3.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 85) .
- 4.
Martin-Baro, I., (1989) .
- 5.
Schwab, G., (2010: 20) .
- 6.
- 7.
The first government of Alan Garcia was between 1985–1990.
- 8.
In Wamani 36 of the 60 (60%) randomly selected interviewees said that they have no interest participating in the lectures or the workshops provided by NGOs and other public institutions and organizations.
- 9.
Wakins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 112).
- 10.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 138) .
- 11.
Martin-Baro, I., (1986) .
- 12.
- 13.
For the use of groups as a resource of validation and support in the first stage of recovery, see Herman, J. (1992: 218ff).
- 14.
Gautier, A., & Sabatini Scalmati, A., (2010: 4) .
- 15.
Herman, J., (1992: 193).
- 16.
For Baumeister and Leary “…much of what human beings do is done in the service of belongingness. Empirical findings conclusively show that the need to belong shapes emotion and cognition.” Baumeister, R. F. & Leary, M. R. (1995: 521) . See also Baumeister, R. F., Twenge, J.M., & Nuss, C. K. (2002) .
- 17.
Gautier, A., & Sabatini Scalmati, A., (2010: 5) .
- 18.
Haas, P.J., (1988) .
- 19.
- 20.
By social capital I am referring to “…features of social organization, such as trust, norms and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions.” (Putnam, 1993: 167) .
- 21.
Staub, E. (1989:38ff) .
- 22.
- 23.
Agamben, G. (1999: 105) .
- 24.
The interpretation of abjection most appropriate to this study is the one developed by Julia Kristeva who described abjection as “…that which is rejected by/disturbs social reason - the communal consensus that underpins a social order.” Kristeva, J. (1984: 65).
- 25.
In some cases, this destruction of the normal ways in which people think, act and relate to others is the result of a particular war strategy that often has very specific aims. For example, the use of rape as a political act designed to break down existing socio-cultural structures by unsettling the community structure, feminizing men, changing the ethnic makeup of a society, creating a state of fear and silence, and demonstrating total control over a community. See for example: Hague, E. (1997) in R. Lentin (ed.) (1997); Hayner, P. B. (2002) ; Yuval-Davis, N. (1997) ; Boesten, J. (2007a, b) in Pankhurst, D. (ed.) (2007); Brinkerhoff, D. (2007a, b); Kleinman, A. & Kleinman, J. (1991a, b); Boesten, J. (2007a, b).
- 26.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 112) .
- 27.
- 28.
Amery, J. (1980: 62ff) .
- 29.
Buber, M., (1958) .
- 30.
Baron-Cohen, S., (2011: 13).
- 31.
Freire, P., (1980: 48) .
- 32.
Freire, P., (1972) .
- 33.
- 34.
- 35.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 131) .
- 36.
- 37.
McCullough, M. & Worthington, E. L., (2001: 107–8) .
- 38.
- 39.
See Pedersen et al. (2010) for research examining the intersection of cultural norms, past and current events, and expressions of distress in the Quechua population of Northern Ayacucho. See also Pedersen, D., Tremblay, J., Errazuris, C., & Gamarra, J. (2008) ; Pedersen, D., Kienzler, H., & Gamarra, J. (2010) ; Llaki and Ñakary.
- 40.
Maier, C.S., (1997: 15) .
- 41.
- 42.
Leder, D. (1990) .
- 43.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 10) .
- 44.
Avelar, I., (1999: 3) .
- 45.
Morrill, B.T., (2000: 28) .
- 46.
In this way people remain true to themselves and this helps them to retain something fundamental about their own identity. For Elie Wiesel , “…salvation, like redemption, can be found only in memory.” In Wiesel, E. (1990: 201) This theme was subsequently commented on by Miroslav Volf who said that “…faith in the saving power of memory – faith that it will heal the individuals involved and help rid the world of violence is his (Wiesel’s) central obsession.” Volf, M., (2006: 19) .
- 47.
- 48.
Spargo, R. Clifton (2006: 46) .
- 49.
Levinas, E., (1999: 56) .
- 50.
Spargo, R. Clifton (2006: 46).
- 51.
Metz, J.B., (1980: 117) .
- 52.
Volf, M., (2006: 28) .
- 53.
Metz, J.B. (1980: 109).
- 54.
Blustein, J., (2003:: 57ff).
- 55.
- 56.
- 57.
Weil, S., (2002: 41ff) .
- 58.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 149) .
- 59.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 149).
- 60.
For the individual to benefit from collective social narratives respect for collective obligations such as those suggested by Simone Weil are needed: order, liberty, obedience, responsibility, equality, hierarchism, punishment, freedom of opinion, security, risk, private property, collective property, truth, liberty, obedience, honour. See Weil, S., (2002: 41ff) .
- 61.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 61) .
- 62.
Blustein, J., (2008: 30) .
- 63.
Blustein, J., (2008: 31).
- 64.
Calhoun, L.G., & Tedeschi, R., (2009: 29) (eds) .
- 65.
Frankl, V., (1955).
- 66.
Blustein, J., (2008: 69) .
- 67.
Brudholm, T., (2008: 101) .
- 68.
Brock, R. N., (1988: 19).
- 69.
Brudholm, T., (2008: 169).
- 70.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H., (2008: 158) .
- 71.
Much of the contemporary interest in the subject of resentment began with the work of Jean Amery (1980) . Some of the key contributions since then include Zygmunt Bauman (1989) who described resentment as “…a discharge, a by-product, of social settings that set interests in conflict and those who hold those interests at loggerheads.” Some important recent contributions to the subject include work by Jeffrie Murphy (2003) and Jefffrey Blustein (2008) and most recently from Thomas Brudholm (2008) who suggests that resentment gives insights into the moral implications of what happened.
- 72.
Brudholm, T., (2008: 49).
- 73.
Brudholm, T., (2008: 49).
- 74.
Brudholm, T., (2008: 17) .
- 75.
Blustein, J. (2008: 83ff) ..
- 76.
Gautier, A., & Sabatini Scalmati, A., (2010: 6) .
- 77.
Gautier, A., & Sabatini Scalmati, A., (2010: 6).
- 78.
Blustein, J. (2008: 87) .
- 79.
Ehlers, A., Hackmann, A., Steil, R., Clohessy, S., Wenninger, K., Winter, H. (2002) .
- 80.
Murphy, J., (2003: 115) .
- 81.
- 82.
Brudholm, T., (2008: 171) .
- 83.
Staub, E., (1989: 45) .
- 84.
Cohen, S., (2001: xii ff) .
- 85.
Barnett, V. J., (1999: 9) .
- 86.
Lepore, S. J., & Revenson, T.A., (2006: 27) in Calhoun, L.G. & Tedeschi, R.G., (2009).
- 87.
- 88.
- 89.
In spite of the long history of individualism within the indigenous peasant population its current use in the communities studied is not overtly related to its earlier usage, which referred to the figure of the gamonal. The history of the gamonal is discussed in Gonzalez, O.M., (2011: 103ff) . Until the Agrarian Reform of 1969 the gamonal was perceived as a feudal lord and regarded as an “…economic and political power in the highlands during the colonial period.” Though this brought its original role to an end the image of the gamonal as the embodiment of exploitation remained.
- 90.
- 91.
For these purposes the act of humiliation “…involves putting down, holding down and rendering the other helpless to resist the debasement. The feeling of being humiliated emerges when one is unable to resist the debasement and one deems it to be illegitimate as well as unwanted.” See Lindner, Evelin G. (2001) .
- 92.
- 93.
Lev-Wiesel, R. & Amir, M., (2006: 259).
- 94.
- 95.
- 96.
See for example: Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R.S., (1984) ; Brewin, C.R., Andrews, B. & Valentine, J.D. (2000); Ozer, E.J., Best, S.R., Lipsey, T.L., & Weiss, D.S. (2008) ; Ullman, S.E., Filipas, H.H., Townsend, S.M., & Starzynski, L.L. (2007) ; Ullman, S.E., & Filipas, H.H.(2001) ; Yamawaki, N., Darby, R., & Queiroz, A. (2007) .
- 97.
Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008: 210) .
- 98.
Bauman, Z., (2004: 51) .
- 99.
For Finkelkraut, “…those who refuse to forget are besieged by a cultural suspicion that demands to know how the past may prove useful to the future.” Finkelkraut, A., (1980) .
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Bowyer, T.J. (2019). Overcoming Past Trauma. In: Beyond Suffering and Reparation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98983-9_6
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