Decolonizing Trauma Studies: Trauma and Postcolonialism
This volume is reprinted from the Special Issue of Humanities, 'Decolonizing Trauma Studies: Trauma and Postcolonialism' The Special Issue explores the complex and contested relationship between trauma studies and postcolonial criticism, focusing on the ongoing project to create a decolonised trauma theory that attends to and accounts for the suffering of minority groups and non Western cultures, broadly defined as cultures beyond Western Europe and North America. The issue builds on the insights of, inter alia, Stef Craps's book, Postcolonial Witnessing, and responds to his challenge to interrogate and move beyond a Eurocentric trauma paradigm. The essays examine literary and cultural texts from a wide range of postcolonial locales including Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Haiti, the Philippines, and Eastern Europe, as well as exploring minority literary and cultural practices within Western European nations such as Britain. The volume concludes with a round table discussion between noted trauma theorists Stef Craps, Bryan Cheyette and Alan Gibbs.