Trauma, discourse and communicative limits Export

@article{citeulike:5839264, abstract = {Trauma is a term that is widely used in memory studies, along with a number of other academic fields and disciplines. This article takes issue with its loose and indiscriminate application. Such application generates an unresolved paradox: trauma is associated with memories of events that are uncontrollable, yet large-scale commemorative practices or processes of social reconciliation assume that experiences of these are controllable, amenable to being assimilated into narrative form and so available for rhetorical purposes. Following an examination of this paradox, the article looks in detail at two examples of experience involving painful memories of two kinds – those which have become integrated into relatively easily told stories, and which can then involve rhetorical work, and those which have not become woven into a life-narrative and so are not available for such work. The article also considers some of the methodological and analytical problems that occur when traumatic or painful memories arise in the course of sociological fieldwork.}, author = {Pickering, Michael and Keightley, Emily}, citeulike-article-id = {5839264}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17405900903180970}, doi = {10.1080/17405900903180970}, journal = {Critical Discourse Studies}, keywords = {memory, rhetoric, trauma}, number = {4}, pages = {237--249}, posted-at = {2009-09-25 09:44:32}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Routledge}, title = {Trauma, discourse and communicative limits}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17405900903180970}, volume = {6}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5839264 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5839264 N2 - Trauma is a term that is widely used in memory studies, along with a number of other academic fields and disciplines. This article takes issue with its loose and indiscriminate application. Such application generates an unresolved paradox: trauma is associated with memories of events that are uncontrollable, yet large-scale commemorative practices or processes of social reconciliation assume that experiences of these are controllable, amenable to being assimilated into narrative form and so available for rhetorical purposes. Following an examination of this paradox, the article looks in detail at two examples of experience involving painful memories of two kinds – those which have become integrated into relatively easily told stories, and which can then involve rhetorical work, and those which have not become woven into a life-narrative and so are not available for such work. The article also considers some of the methodological and analytical problems that occur when traumatic or painful memories arise in the course of sociological fieldwork. IS - 4 JF - Critical Discourse Studies EP - 249 TI - Trauma, discourse and communicative limits PB - Routledge VL - 6 SP - 237 KW - memory KW - rhetoric KW - trauma AU - Pickering, Michael AU - Keightley, Emily PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17405900903180970 ER -