Historia y trauma colectivo: Límites, usos y abusos

Abstract

In the next pages I will design an analysis regarding the implications that the notion of trauma may have in relation to the evolution of the development of societies. I will offer a critical review of the contemporary theories regarding collective trauma from Cathy Caruth, Frank Ankersmitt, Wulf Kansteiner and Dominick Lacapra, in order to give an account of the limits of the transference of this category from the clinical to the social field. Consequently, I will refer to both epistemological and ethic-political issues. The last ones are especially relevant since by studying them it will be possible to explain and discredit the political use and abuse of the symbolic content that comes from traumatic experiences.

Keywords

• Trauma, compulsión a la repetición, elaboración, duelo