Suchergebnisse

AbstractNationalism theorists have noted the link between traumatic events and national identity, and cultural trauma theory presents a framework for understanding how these events become trauma narratives. I argue for greater consideration of how these narratives are strategically linked to ideological frames of national identity. A case study of post‐IndependenceIndia considering the assassination ofMahatmaGandhi and thePartition ofIndia andPakistan demonstrates how two very different events were promoted as cultural traumas by various carrier groups in order to promote a secular vision of the Indian nation. AdaptingArmstrong andCrage (2006),Isuggest that the success of these trauma narratives depend on several criteria: the ease of narrating the event, how it is linked to underlying cultural meanings/frames and how the event interacts with historical contingencies.

The loss of iconic buildings and artifacts can result in public mourning which may even overshadow the loss of human life. Cultural trauma theory examines how such processes are socially constructed, but has focused on events of great human suffering, ignoring the power of objects. Discourse analysis of two months of Italian media coverage following the 1997 Umbria-Marche earthquake and local interviews in Assisi show that a cultural trauma was articulated around the damaged Basilica of St Francis of Assisi and its fragmented Giotto frescoes. In addition to factors specific to Italy, I compare ten recent worldwide cases of artistic loss, some of which became cultural traumas while others did not, in order to determine the critical factors in creating a cultural trauma of objects: the comparative loss of human life, the object's totemic significance to the collective, and the time-frame until the object can be repaired.