Cultural trauma, counter-narratives, and dialogical intellectuals: the works of Murakami Haruki and Mori Tatsuya in the context of the Aum affair

Abstract

In this article, we offer a new conceptualization of intellectuals as carriers of cultural trauma through a case study of the Aum Affair, a series of crimes and terrorist attacks committed by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyō. In understanding the performative roles intellectuals play in trauma construction, we offer a new dichotomy between Bauthoritative intellectuals,^who draw on their privileged parcours and status to impose a distinct trauma narrative, and Bdialogical intellectuals,ŵ ho engage with local actors dialogically to produce polyphonic and open-ended trauma narratives. We identify three dimensions of dialogical intellectual action: firstly, the intellectuals may be involved in dialogue with local participants; secondly, the intellectual products themselves may be dialogical in content; and thirdly, there might be a concerted effort on the part of the intellectuals to record and to disseminate dialogue between local participants. In the context of the Aum Affair, we analyze the works of Murakami Haruki and Mori Tatsuya as dialogical intellectuals while they sought, with the help of local actors' experiences, to challenge and to alter the orthodox trauma narrative of Aum Shinrikyō as exclusively a social evil external to Japanese society and an enemy to be excluded from it. Towards the end of the article, we discuss the broader significance of this case study and suggest that in light of recent societal and technological developments, the role and scope of dialogical intellectuals as carriers of trauma are changing and possibly expanding.In accordance with cultural convention, all Japanese names appear in standard Japanese order of last name followed by given name, with the exception of the lead author.

Discursive opportunities and the transnational diffusion of ideas: ‘brainwashing’ and ‘mind control’ in Japan after the Aum Affair

“…The investigation unearthed a litany of past crimes and violence, including murders of dissidents and critics as well as other failed terror attacks, which collectively came to be known as the ‘Aum Affair’ (‘ Oumu Jiken ’). Through extensive cultural discourse, the Aum Affair developed into a ‘cultural trauma’ experienced collectively by the Japanese nation (Ushiyama and Baert ). Amidst the prevailing public mood of shock and anger, representations of Aum as the antithesis of Japan’s moral values dominated civil debate.…”

Latency Through Uncertainty: the 1994 Matsumoto Sarin Incident as a Delayed Cultural Trauma

“…33 The police therefore categorised the Tokyo attack as an Borganised indiscriminate terrorist incident^straightaway. 34 Put simply, the Tokyo attack immediately became a cultural trauma (Ushiyama and Baert 2016).…”

“…38 The commemoration of Matsumoto has stood apart from other crimes committed by Aum, as the false accusation has been a recurring theme in remembering Matsumoto alongside condemning Aum's violence. Thus, unlike the commemoration of the Tokyo attack, which has been characterised by unequivocal moral condemnation of Aum as a mind-controlling cult (Baffelli and Reader 2012;Ushiyama and Baert 2016), the symbolic opposition of Japan as good and Aum as evil has been attenuated somewhat in public discussions of Matsumoto as the media have had to acknowledge their own moral transgressions. For example, in 1999, Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun both ran a series of reports marking five years since the Matsumoto attack.…”

Cultural trauma and the politics of access to higher education in Syria

“…The significance of access to means of symbolic production for effective cultural trauma construction is well elaborated in the cultural trauma literature (see Alexander, 2017, p. 79;Alexander, Giesen, & Mast, 2006;Ushiyama & Baert, 2016). However, the important and unique role of education in this process is under-examined.…”

“…Examining Syria's HE system under regime control through a cultural trauma lens is also useful in demonstrating the ways in which HEIs become sites of state oppression. This is because cultural traumas are public expressions and discursive presentations of 'deeply felt emotions and identities' (Eyerman, 2012, p. 571) and obstructing the very possibility of these acts of public expression and representation means that the therapeutic effect of trauma narration on the victimised collectivity (Ushiyama & Baert, 2016) is severely undermined including in HE institutionsan often vital site for self-expression, identity formation and the building of knowledge frameworks for life and the wider world. Instead, as we demonstrate later in the paper, Syrian HE institutions are experienced by many HE members as sites of political repression, subjugation and surveillance depending on their 'ethico-political positioning' vis-à-vis the uprising of 2011.…”