Remembering Collective Violence: Broadening the Notion of Traumatic Memory in Post-Conflict Rehabilitation

In the aftermath of war and armed conflict, individuals and communities face the challenge of dealing with recollections of violence and atrocity. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of processes of remembering and forgetting histories of violence in post-conflict communities and to reflect on related implications for trauma rehabilitation in post-conflict settings. Starting from the observation that memory operates at the core of PTSD symptomatology, we more closely explore how this notion of traumatic memory is conceptualized within PTSD-centered research and interventions. Subsequently, we aim to broaden this understanding of traumatic memory and post-trauma care by connecting to findings from social memory studies and transcultural trauma research. Drawing on an analysis of scholarly literature, this analysis develops into a perspective on memory that moves beyond a symptomatic framing toward an understanding of memory that emphasizes its relational, political, moral, and cultural nature. Post-conflict memory is presented as inextricably embedded in communal relations, involving ongoing trade-offs between individual and collective responses to trauma and a complex negotiation of speech and silence. In a concluding discussion, we develop implications of this broadened understanding for post-conflict trauma-focused rehabilitation.     

Political Violence, Narrative, and Memory

Lords of the Lebanese Marclies: Violence and Narrative in an Arab Society. Michael Gilsenan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 377 pp.
Memories of Revolt: The 1936-1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past. Ted Swedenburg. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. 259 pp.     

Healing Ways: Navajo Health Care in the Twentieth Century

Healing Ways: Navajo Health Care in the Twentieth Century. Wade Davies. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2001. xv. 248 pp.     

Cultures under Siege: Collective Violence and Trauma

Cultures under Siege: Collective Violence and Trauma. Antonius C. G. M. Robben and Marcelo M. Sudrez-Orozco. eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 285 pp.     

The Ibis: Transformations in a Twentieth Century British Natural History Journal

The contents of the British Ornithologists' Union's journal, The Ibis, during the first half of the 20th century illustrates some of the transformations that have taken place in the naturalist tradition. Although later generations of ornithologists described these changes as logical and progressive, their historical narratives had more to do with legitimizing the infiltration of the priorities of evolutionary theory, ecology, and ethology than analyzing the legacy of the naturalist tradition on its own terms. Despite ornithologists' claim that the journal's increasing focus on "biology" represented a natural development after the preliminary phase of systematics and geographical ornithology, in fact a small group campaigned to bring the priorities of population ecology, behavior, and selection theory into the journal and British ornithology more generally. The problems involved in this transition highlight the importance of methodological and institutional context in determining and reinforcing appropriate research programs for ornithologists. Comparing the discipline-building rhetoric of moderns with the contents of the past illustrates how modern evaluations of 19th century research programs have been enmeshed in ornithologists' endeavors to forge new identities for traditional disciplines.     

Rabid Epidemiologies: The Emergence and Resurgence of Rabies in Twentieth Century South Africa

This article discusses the history of rabies in South Africa since the early twentieth century. It argues that rabies is a zoonotic disease that traverses rural and urban spaces, that transfers itself between wild and domestic animals and remains a potential threat to human life in the region. Scientists discovered an indigenous form of rabies, found primarily in the yellow mongoose, after the first biomedically confirmed human fatalities in 1928. Since the 1950s canine rabies, presumed to have moved southwards from across the Zambezi River, has become endemic also. South Africa is home to a comparatively large number of rabies strains and animal carriers, making it a particularly interesting case study. Environmental changes during the colonial and apartheid periods have helped to explain the increase in rabies cases since the mid-twentieth century. Moreover, developments in the biological and ecological sciences have provided insights into why the rabies virus has become endemic in certain wildlife species.     

Political Violence and the Politics of Ethnography

The Sikhs of the Punjab: Unheard Voices of State and Guerrilla Violence. Joyce J. M. Pettigrew. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books, 1995. 212 pp.
Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues with Sikh Militants. Cynthia Keppley Mahmood. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.314 pp.     

The Return of the Phoenix: The 1963 International Congress of Zoology and American Zoologists in the Twentieth Century

This paper examines the International Congress of Zoology held in Washington D.C. in 1963 as a portrait of American zoologists’ search for effective and rewarding relationships with both each other and the public. Organizers of the congress envisioned the congress as a last ditch effort to unify the disparate subdisciplines of zoology, overcome the barriers of specialization, and ward off the heady claims of more reductionist biologists. The problems zoologists faced as they worked to fulfill these ambitious goals illuminate some of the challenges faced by members of the naturalist tradition as they worked to establish disciplinary unity while seeking public support in the competitive world of twentieth century science.     

Reflections on Grant Evans’ The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos since 1975

In this article I reflect on Grant Evans’ landmark and influential The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos since 1975, the way in which this book relates to the transformation from socialism to post‐socialism in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), to the crisis of legitimacy of the communist regime, and to issues of social memory, Buddhism, nationalism, iconography, and ethnic minorities. I also consider how other scholars have engaged with The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance both critically and supportively since the publication of the monograph in 1998 . I include in my analysis some observations on Evans’ quite radical change in political views over his career as a student, journalist and academic, culminating in his critique of socialism in general and the LPDR in particular and his controversial sympathy for the Lao monarchy.     

Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan

Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan. Jennifer Robertson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.278 pp.     

Recovering the Nation's Body: Cultural Memory, Medicine, and the Politics of Redemption

Recovering the Nation's Body: Cultural Memory, Medicine, and the Politics of Redemption. Linda F. Hogle. New Brunswick, NJ; Rutgers University Press, 1999. xiv. 242 pp.