Whereof we can speak, thereof we must not be silent: trauma, political solipsism and war

Abstract

In cases such as World War I grief or trauma were nearly universal in the European context and a direct consequence of a political experience of war. This article asks whether widespread social suffering may have a social and political expression that is larger than the sum of traumatised or bereaved individuals. Section 1 explores Martha Nussbaum's theory of emotion, particularly as it relates to grief and compassion and uses this to build two contrasting typologies of grief and trauma. Central to this contrast is the idea that grief, as an emotion, is embedded in a community, while trauma and emotional numbing correspond with a breakdown of community and an isolation, which may give rise to solipsism. The latter would appear to make any notion of social trauma a contradiction in terms. Section 2 draws on the philosopher Wittgenstein's critique in the Philosophical Investigations of his early work in the Tractatus, to argue that even the solipsist exists in a particular kind of social world. This provides a foundation for arguing, in Section 3, that social trauma can find expression in a political solipsism, which has dangerous consequences. Section 4 theorises the relationship between trauma, identity and agency at the international level.

We will not Swallow This Bitter Fruit: Theorizing a Diplomacy of Anger

“…44 Others, such as Karin Fierke, Paul Suarette, or Oded Löwenheim and Gadi Heimann, have focused on particular emotional dynamics-such as trauma, humiliation, or the desire for revenge-as a source of motivation in international relations. 45 Yet, postulating the influence of emotional motivations on policy makers does not solve the theoretical issue of what it means for states to display emotional reactions overtly such as anger. In fact, Löwenheim and Heimann's piece on the role of revenge in motivating Israeli behavior during the Second Lebanon War of July 2006 is very instructive in this regard.…”

Trauma, justice and the politics of emotion: the violence of sentimentality in education

“…But the danger of political narratives of trauma is that 6 M. Zembylas they are vulnerable to manipulation and can create and perpetuate power for unscrupulous leaders. (p. 5) Even when no direct loss is incurred, argues Fierke (2004), individual identity and collective emotion are bound up in the politics of trauma:…”

“…To speak of trauma is to bring it into the political world; the question is how this politics is expressed and what the consequences are (Fierke, 2004), especially in educational settings. The acknowledgement of the politics of trauma points to the complexity of the connection between the individual and the large group, the personal grief and the collective human capacity to feel.…”

Suicide bombings and the self

“…They are at once suspect to grief over loss of meaning as a collective, societal response and trauma or emotional numbing as a personal reaction, corresponding with a breakdown of community, which gives rise to moral solipsism (cf. Fierke 2004). Unfortunately, the role of such conflicting emotional reactions has received scant attention in the global ethics scholarship; in the world politics scholarship, it is (with a few notable exceptions such as the work of Richard Ned Lebow) virtually non-existent.…”