(Mis-)Representations : Trauma Discourses and Cultural Productions
Type
presentation
Date Issued
2009-10-17
Author(s)
Abstract
Universität Zürich
Englisches Seminar
Call for Papers
(Mis-)Representations: Trauma Discourses and Cultural Productions
Postgraduate conference, 17.10.09, University of Zurich
Moving far beyond its origins in medical terminology, "trauma" has enjoyed a multitude
of applications in various disciplines. Where trauma originally denoted a physical
wound, within the fields of psychoanalysis and psychology, any inspection or treatment
of the traumatic wound shifts the main emphasis from somatic to psychic topologies.
With the inclusion of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) into the official diagnostic
manual in 1980, public awareness of trauma increased rapidly. Since the mid 1990s
trauma has also gained a great deal in currency within fields other than psychology and
psychiatry. Scholars such as Cathy Caruth, Dominick LaCapra, Shoshana Felman and
Lawrence Langer have introduced trauma theory as a central concern of their literary
interpretations. The term has taken on cultural dimensions due largely to its relevance
for issues of collective identity, and has thus become popular in Cultural Studies. The
vogue of the concept has also necessarily been contingent on a succession of
historical conditions - two World Wars, the Vietnam War, (post)colonialism and global
terrorism - as well as on changes in the ideologies, philosophy, and cultural practices
of the West: particularly the popularization of psychoanalytic discourse and the
proliferation of public stagings of personal suffering in the mass media. While the
concept of trauma has traditionally been used to address concerns of the victimized
and marginalized, it has also come to function well as a paradigm for postmodern
anxieties concerning experience and representation. Though a widespread interest in
concepts of trauma presents possibilities for fecund transdisciplinary interconnections
and knowledge transfer, its apparent protean adaptability also requires a continual
critical reevaluation of its applications.
The aim of this conference - which is conceived as a forum of exchange primarily for
doctoral and post-doctoral researchers - is to explore the potentials and the limitations
of the concept of trauma in its various appropriations for cultural productions. We invite
contributions on topics from various fields and eras of literary or cultural studies. Topics
to be considered include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Representation of Trauma in Literature, Art and Media
- Trauma and Narrative
- Gendered Trauma and Traumas of Gender
- Testimony, Truth, Ethics
- Trauma, Memory and Identity
- Collective / Cultural Trauma
- Trauma and Language
- Application of trauma discourses for cultural and literary analysis
- Definitions of trauma and their political and cultural implications
- Histories of Trauma, Traumatic Histories
Englisches Seminar
Call for Papers
(Mis-)Representations: Trauma Discourses and Cultural Productions
Postgraduate conference, 17.10.09, University of Zurich
Moving far beyond its origins in medical terminology, "trauma" has enjoyed a multitude
of applications in various disciplines. Where trauma originally denoted a physical
wound, within the fields of psychoanalysis and psychology, any inspection or treatment
of the traumatic wound shifts the main emphasis from somatic to psychic topologies.
With the inclusion of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) into the official diagnostic
manual in 1980, public awareness of trauma increased rapidly. Since the mid 1990s
trauma has also gained a great deal in currency within fields other than psychology and
psychiatry. Scholars such as Cathy Caruth, Dominick LaCapra, Shoshana Felman and
Lawrence Langer have introduced trauma theory as a central concern of their literary
interpretations. The term has taken on cultural dimensions due largely to its relevance
for issues of collective identity, and has thus become popular in Cultural Studies. The
vogue of the concept has also necessarily been contingent on a succession of
historical conditions - two World Wars, the Vietnam War, (post)colonialism and global
terrorism - as well as on changes in the ideologies, philosophy, and cultural practices
of the West: particularly the popularization of psychoanalytic discourse and the
proliferation of public stagings of personal suffering in the mass media. While the
concept of trauma has traditionally been used to address concerns of the victimized
and marginalized, it has also come to function well as a paradigm for postmodern
anxieties concerning experience and representation. Though a widespread interest in
concepts of trauma presents possibilities for fecund transdisciplinary interconnections
and knowledge transfer, its apparent protean adaptability also requires a continual
critical reevaluation of its applications.
The aim of this conference - which is conceived as a forum of exchange primarily for
doctoral and post-doctoral researchers - is to explore the potentials and the limitations
of the concept of trauma in its various appropriations for cultural productions. We invite
contributions on topics from various fields and eras of literary or cultural studies. Topics
to be considered include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Representation of Trauma in Literature, Art and Media
- Trauma and Narrative
- Gendered Trauma and Traumas of Gender
- Testimony, Truth, Ethics
- Trauma, Memory and Identity
- Collective / Cultural Trauma
- Trauma and Language
- Application of trauma discourses for cultural and literary analysis
- Definitions of trauma and their political and cultural implications
- Histories of Trauma, Traumatic Histories
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Event Title
Konferenz
Event Location
Universität Zürich
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
86202