Postcolonial Witnessing: Trauma Out of Bounds

by Stef Craps

Postcolonial Witnessing argues that the suffering engendered by colonialism needs to be acknowledged more fully, on its own terms, in its own terms, and in relation to traumatic First World histories if trauma theory is to have any hope of redeeming its promise of cross-cultural ethical engagement.

Genres: Theory, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Patron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am both pleased yet saddened to announce that I've reached the stage of my life where I read theory for fun. What have I become?

Trauma studies is a sector of literary studies that's always interested me, partially because Ateneo and Filipino academia in general seems to love the field and partially because my unhappy childhood has made anything with the word 'trauma' attatched to it immedieatly appeal to me. The idea is definitely yet another intersection where literature and psychology meet, but I believe it's the postcolonial turn some theorists push trauma studies that makes it so promising and fascinating; if you happen to be interested in the same combination moreso than the strictly psychoanalytical, then this book might be worth picking up.

(Admittedly, I only discovered it because my professor provided a free PDF copy, but isn't that how everybody discovers books these days?)

I'm pretty sure that this shouldn't be your first and only introduction to trauma studies or its overlap with post-colonialism, since it's a sparse 138 pages and it barely touches on the Global South, but the main concerns Stef Craps raises in response to how literary theorists analyze suffering and trauma are succintly explored by his examination of one specific question: Is the Holocaust truly universal? The topic is uncomfortable to approach, but as this books shows, skepticism over whether everybody truly understands the Holocaust the same way opens the floodgates for so many other possibilities - for better, or for worse.

Craps is apparently from Belgium, so it's not much of a surprise that this book tackles a particularly European, abeit Jewish, source of trauma. The fact that pretty much every educated individual knows what took place during the Holocaust (though if they regard its percieved gravity in a similar manner is, as Craps reveals, another question altogether) doesn't detract from how compelling it can get, either. Ironically, however, the Holocaust's supposedly encompassing nature is what enables this book to challenge the way we see tragedies that don't belong to us, and the way we talk about tragedies that do. Craps provides close readings of literature from South Africa to India to exhibit how trauma may not be shared according the models that we assume it to operate on, and how Western neoliberalism has set the boundaries of trauma for us for far too long. Collective and systematic trauma is a dark, subtle realm to tackle, but I believe Stef Craps handles its nuances with grace.

Postcolonial Witnessing might not be all that comprehensive, but despite its brievity, it succeeds at presenting the promise of redirecting trauma theory towards postcolonial audiences, and bringing the drastic implications of these new conceptualizations of trauma to light. It's definitely exciting, if harrowing, to imagine what deeper insights into colonial trauma might involve.

[Noha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd say the articles of Craps which he included and extended in this book are groundbreaking. The book starts with a criticism of the failings of mainstream trauma theory to be inclusive and an exposing its Eurocentric bias. Then he analyses some of the poems and novels of postcolonial writers including Anita Desai and places them within the wider context of trauma theory.

[Sara Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stef Craps argues that traditional trauma theory, which focuses on a rupturing of the world view of an individual who faces an event-based traumatic experience, denies the experience of those who face a more systematic, “insidious,” and “oppression-based” trauma, such as those experienced by marginalized communities around the world, including African Americans. The DSM definition of trauma turns it into a pathological condition to be cured in the individual, rather that considering it a rational reaction to a society with pathologically dysfunctional systems. In considering event-based traumas, such as natural disasters, Craps points out that the Western tendency to talk-through, to tell, to rework trauma in order to return to a pre-traumatic state works against social organizations, such as those who embrace a Buddhist or Hindu traditions, which work to live with the experience of pain, loss, and discomfort, rather than to eliminate it. In cases of political traumas, Craps uses Derrida’s theory of “hauntology” to describe a present that takes into consideration the past and the future. Telling a traumatic event does not consign it to the past, but suggests the possibility that a past trauma may inhabit the present. Craps also argues that too rigid a definition of trauma narrows the canon of trauma literature by favoring experimental, high-brow and mostly European works. I appreciate this research and find it very useful in considering postcolonial works.

[Aaron Dorsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an essential text for thinking about whose suffering is considered traumatic, whose it is not, and who gets to decide. Stef Craps provides a thorough critique of hegemonic and imperializing tendencies in trauma in order to create space for a postcolonial articulation of trauma. It is not that Craps does a way with trauma, but submits it to critique so that it can better engage with the sufferings of colonized peoples.

Rather than Western made definitions of trauma becoming either metrics for evaluating the suffering of non-Western people, or those definitions becoming lens for viewing non-Western suffering, Craps offers the possibility of non-Western sufferings being taken seriously for their own sake and on their own terms, even as they challenge and expand the definition of trauma itself.

[Emma-Louise Ekpo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this approach to postcolonial trauma theory, it was enlightening to the limitations and current discourses.

I would have really liked inclusion of medicalised trauma theory, the negatives and positives of it.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting and unconventional look at trauma theory.