From ontological security to cultural trauma

Abstract

Using the example of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, this article analyses a unique mechanism regarding the transformation of ontological security into ontological insecurity and then cultural trauma. It demonstrates how, from ontological security constructed by the Soviet ideology, Chernobyl moved to ontological insecurity understood as a breakdown in the established beliefs. By blaming the Soviet system in a public sphere, ontological insecurity was transformed into a cultural trauma. The article then presents a comparative analysis of Belarus and Ukraine in their construction of two types of cultural traumas: continuous; and retrospective. In the years 1986–1991, a continuous trauma took place in the form of protests against the established political system. After the directly affected countries received their independence in 1991, a retrospective trauma occurred in the form of recollection of what happened in Chernobyl. The official Belarus media understood the Soviet Union as its golden age and controlled most of the media space; fewer attempts were made to construct the Soviet state as a Chernobyl perpetrator. The official Ukraine media did not consider the Soviet past as its golden age and had a more pluralistic media; there were more instances in which it criticised the Soviet state for irresponsibility.

Accounting for inequalities: divided selves and divided states in International Relations

“…On one hand, they produce the relationship of enmity that constitutes the in-group (Lerner, 2022;Volkan, 2008). On the other hand, they can also expose the failure of the state to perform its definitional role of providing security and stability, and expose the state as ineffective (Edkins, 2003;Lerner, 2022;Zhukova, 2016). Indeed, in Kinnvall's (2017) example of the Delhi gang-rape case of 2012, the culpability for the trauma is redirected towards female transgression, deflecting culpability from the state.…”

“…Take, for example, the killing of Trayvon Martin, whose social media accounts were later trawled for evidence that he was a public menace associated with gangs rather than a teenage victim who was murdered because he wore a hoody (Alcindor, 2012;Mackey, 2012). Zhukova (2016) emphasises the element of accountability in the discourse of trauma where she argues that retrospective trauma is produced when a perpetrator is held to account by the framing of morality in relation to a crisis. Identifying a perpetrator in the public sphere -whatever the crisis type -means there can be a breakdown in established beliefs and this breakdown leads to what Zhukova (citing Alexander, 2004) conceptualises as a retrospective cultural trauma.…”

“…It might be an equaliser in the sense that people from all social strata lost their homes or loved ones, but the ongoing costs, the ability to rebuild a home and rebuild a life is experienced unequally. Returning to Zhukova (2016), a natural disaster might be seen retrospectively as a trauma if there is a moral failing on the part of a responsible party to act properly to alleviate the worst suffering of the crisis. Similarly, a crisis caused by a man-made accident might not become a national trauma unless it involves a narrative of moral failure.…”

“…Scholars in critical security have pointed to the broadening and deepening of security conceptualisations that permit various forms of insecurity. Drawing from Zhukova (2016), things can be retroactively designated a national trauma with the identification of a perpetrator. But for this to happen, the group that suffered the trauma need to have the resources to follow a pathway of accountability, and the accountability must be recognised by the state.…”

“…Zhukova (2016) emphasises the element of accountability in the discourse of trauma where she argues that retrospective trauma is produced when a perpetrator is held to account by the framing of morality in relation to a crisis. Identifying a perpetrator in the public sphere – whatever the crisis type – means there can be a breakdown in established beliefs and this breakdown leads to what Zhukova (citing Alexander, 2004) conceptualises as a retrospective cultural trauma.…”