manas
manas

The Empire of Trauma: An Inquiry into the Condition of Victimhood

How trauma has come to give authenticity to the suffering of victims

The book co-authored by Richard remains to this day the  most influential  academic publication in the field of psychological trauma. 

"Today we are accustomed to psychiatrists being summoned to scenes of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, war, and other tragic events to care for the psychic trauma of victims—yet it has not always been so. The very idea of psychic trauma came into being only at the end of the nineteenth century and for a long time was treated with suspicion. The Empire of Trauma tells the story of how the traumatic victim became culturally and politically respectable, and how trauma itself became an unassailable moral category.



Basing the analysis on a wide-ranging ethnography of the application of psychiatric victimology, the authors examine the politics of reparation, testimony, and proof made possible by the recognition of trauma. Revealing how trauma has come to authenticate the suffering of victims, the book provides critical perspective on some of the moral and political issues at stake in the contemporary world."

 

Find out more about how we can support your organisation with research and strategic guidance.

" The story of how the traumatic victim became politically and morally respectable? How trauma itself became an unassailable  moral category?"

The Empire of Trauma: An Inquiry into the Condition of Victimhood

How trauma has come to give authenticity to the suffering of victims

" The story of how the traumatic victim became politically and morally respectable? How trauma itself became an unassailable  moral category?"

The book co-authored by Richard remains to this day the  most influential  academic publication in the field of psychological trauma. 

"Today we are accustomed to psychiatrists being summoned to scenes of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, war, and other tragic events to care for the psychic trauma of victims—yet it has not always been so. The very idea of psychic trauma came into being only at the end of the nineteenth century and for a long time was treated with suspicion. The Empire of Trauma tells the story of how the traumatic victim became culturally and politically respectable, and how trauma itself became an unassailable moral category.



Basing the analysis on a wide-ranging ethnography of the application of psychiatric victimology, the authors examine the politics of reparation, testimony, and proof made possible by the recognition of trauma. Revealing how trauma has come to authenticate the suffering of victims, the book provides critical perspective on some of the moral and political issues at stake in the contemporary world."

 

Find out more about how we can support your organisation with research and strategic guidance.