Cultural Trauma as a Potential Symbolic Boundary

Lazar, Alon; Litvak-Hirsch, Tal

doi:10.1007/s10767-009-9060-1

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…This suggests that intended online commemoration of cultural trauma takes into consideration the exclusion of those considered disrespectful of the memory of the trauma. 16 As for messages, OWCs mainly discussed two aspects found to reflect the perceived influences of the Holocaust on Israeli society and culture as a cultural trauma, 12 namely the need for group solidarity and for keeping the memory of the Holocaust ever present in the face of attempts to erode it. In that respect, OWCs aim to convey the dominant cultural interpretations and perceptions by their cohort of the cultural trauma online.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representing the Group's Cultural Trauma Online

Lazar

Hirsch²

2012

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

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The case of the Holocaust as a cultural trauma in the Jewish-Israeli context can serve as an example of how younger members of collectives use the Internet as a platform on which to commemorate a trauma. This study explored their willingness to establish an Internet site for the purpose of commemorating the Holocaust as well as the materials and messages to be included. The results suggest that the younger members of a collective who live in a cultural atmosphere colored by the memory of a cultural trauma view online commemoration as an appropriate base from which to keep its memory alive, that audio-visual materials more so than textual ones are the preferred modes of representation, and that online commemoration is intended to provide a kaleidoscopic view of the trauma by focusing on the personal stories of both those who survived and those who perished.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representing the Group's Cultural Trauma Online

Lazar

Hirsch²

2012

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

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“…Alevi identity is defined in contrast to Sunni Muslims (So ¨kefeld, 2008) and by a narrative about the collective trauma of Madımak. The contrast and trauma function as symbolic boundaries that create and sustain a sense of groupness and feelings of similarity among Alevis (Lazar & Litvak-Hirsch, 2009;Muro, 2009). The virtuous nature of the Alevi identity is contrasted with the oppressive and violent Sunni character.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social identities depend on the kind of functional interdependence between the ingroup and specific outgroups. Furthermore, research has shown that victim beliefs and collective victimhood play an important role in sustaining and fueling conflicts between groups (e.g., Bar-Tal, Chernyak-Hai, Schori, & Gundar, 2009;Eyerman, 2004b;Lazar & Litvak-Hirsch, 2009;Muro, 2009 powerful symbols and effective instruments for creating a sense of victimhood. A sense of being a victim reminds group members of past violent acts by the rival and indicates that they could recur.…”

Section: The Social Identity Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Inclusive victimhood: Social identity and the politicization of collective trauma among Turkey's Alevis in Western Europe.

Yildiz¹,

Verkuyten²

2011

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.1993 in which the Madımak hotel in the Turkish city of Sivas was set on fire and 37 Alevi intellectuals died in the flames. We examine how the narrative of the massacre functions as political capital in creating a shared moral identity-an identity based on moral values and innocent victimhood (Hardy & Carlo, 2005). Ethnic and national narratives provide accounts of the group's origin, its nature, and its relationship to others. These narratives are analyzed as the changing result of continuous ''group-making projects'' by activists and organizations (e.g., Brubaker, 2004). Specifically, the social identity perspective developed in social psychology (Turner & Reynolds, 2001) argues that a shared identity forms the psychological basis for mobilization and collective action (Reicher & Hopkins, 2001).We adopt the social identity perspective for examining how the largest Alevi organization in Europe, the Confederation of European Alevi Unions (Avrupa Alevi Birlikleri Konfederasyonu [AABK]), construes and uses the collective trauma of Madımak to define Alevi identity and an inclusive victimhood. Focusing on the group understandings of Alevi activists in Europe is interesting for two reasons. First, it is not so much Alevis in Turkey but, rather, those in Europe that try to establish a common Alevi identity and to increase the public visibility of Alevism (S. S ¸ahin, 2005). The AABK predominantly focuses on the oppression and discrimination of Alevis in Turkey. They are transnational and active, for example, by establishing religious Cem Houses and their satellite TV station, YOL TV. Second, Alevi organizations face a serious challenge when it comes to unification and unity. The diversity among the Alevis is substantial and there is a clear lack of consensus about what it means to be an Alevi (So ¨kefeld, 2008). The internal diversity has led to various movements, which make the establishment of a common Alevi identity and a sense of commitment among the different subgroups a continuous challenge for Alevi leaders and organizations that seek to improve the situation of Alevis in Turkey. Furthermore, even when Alevis succeed in developing a shared identity, they remain, numerically, a minority group that is politically relatively powerless. In Turkey, however, they are not the only minority group that faces oppression. A sense of shared victimhood can form a basis for mobilizing these other groups. SOCIOPOLITICAL HISTORYAlevism, historically Kızılbas ¸lık (literally, Redhead), refers to a heterodox, syncretic faith with a mix of mystical Sufi Islam, polytheist beliefs of Mesopotamia and Central Asia, and Shi'ite Islam (Moosa, 1988). Most Alevi live in Anatolia, Turkey, but Alevism is spread across Asia Minor YILDIZ AND VERKUYTENThis document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of...

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“…Such a micro perspective is also rather neglected in studies on cultural trauma that can work as a symbolic boundary (Lazar and Litvak-Hirsch, 2009). While scholarly work on collective memory and cultural trauma has been a quickly growing field in recent years, studying the (trans)formation of narratives on historical events (e.g., Alexander et al, 2004; Eyerman, 2002), relatively little attention has been paid to how cultural trauma resonates in the everyday life of social actors.…”

Section: Symbolic Boundaries and Cultural Traumamentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The Russians are back’: Symbolic boundaries and cultural trauma in immigration from the former Soviet Union to the Czech Republic

Klvaňová

2018

Ethnicities

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This study contributes to the literature on migration and the construction of the symbolic boundaries of belonging. It explores the neglected topic of the role of collective memory and, in particular, cultural trauma, in the processes of negotiation of the symbolic boundaries between immigrants and the native-born. It does so by studying the case of post-Cold War immigration from three countries of the former Soviet Union—Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia—to the Czech Republic, focusing on immigrants’ experiences of being assigned responsibility for “1968,” the Warsaw Treaty Troops’ military intervention into Czechoslovakia and its subsequent occupation by the Soviet army. Analysis of the narratives of immigrants about their everyday encounters with Czechs advances the understanding of symbolic boundary-making processes by identifying two types of responses the immigrants employ for contesting the stigma of the perpetrators imposed on them in the Czech immigration context. The first involves “differentiation,” which aims at redrawing the symbolic boundaries between perpetrators and victims. The second response involves “individualization,” in which immigrants completely dissociate from the past acts of violence of the Soviet regime. This study offers insight into the micro-politics of nation-building in Central and Eastern Europe.

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Cultural Trauma as a Potential Symbolic Boundary

Cited by 8 publications

References 14 publications

Representing the Group's Cultural Trauma Online

Representing the Group's Cultural Trauma Online

Inclusive victimhood: Social identity and the politicization of collective trauma among Turkey's Alevis in Western Europe.

‘The Russians are back’: Symbolic boundaries and cultural trauma in immigration from the former Soviet Union to the Czech Republic

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