(un)necessary trauma
Discussion about the book “Antologia studiów nad traumą”

  • (un)necessary trauma

    The book cover

Trauma has become a common descriptive device in psychotherapy, literature studies, culture studies, historiography and studies of visuality and art. Some aspects of trauma have become a cultural capital, the basis of identity and a source of pride and rivalry.

"Antologia studiów nad traumą" (”Trauma Studies Anthology”), edited by Tomasz Łysak, presents certain aspects of this field of inquiry in the Anglo-American context. It contains new, deconstructive readings of traditionally canonical texts, visual presentation analyses, as well as attempts to reformulate the premises of this concept in order to study non-western cultures or the omitted aspects of traumatization in Euro-American modernity and postmodernity. Is trauma still a handy device or is it an all-encompassing term, a useless buzzword? How can we use it in a creative and mindful way today? How do we avoid traps and re-traumatization? Those are some of the issues the participants will focus on.
 

Katarzyna Bojarska - researcher interested in relations between art, literature, history and psychoanalysis. Critic and translator (also of texts on trauma). Author of Wydarzenia po Wydarzeniu: Białoszewski – Richter – Spiegelman (Warsaw 2012). Member of the editorial team of “Widok. Teorie i praktyki kultury wizualnej” www.pismowidok.org

Jan Borowicz - culture expert and psychologist, graduate student at the University of Warsaw's Institute of Polish Culture. His interests include psychoanalysis, Holocaust studies and relations between body and image. Author of soon to be published Nagość i mundur. Ciało w filmie Trzeciej Rzeszy (Warsaw 2015).

Andrzej Leder - culture philosopher, psychotherapist, professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. Athor of Nieświadomość jako pustka (Warsaw 2001), Przemiana mitów, czyli wojna o obrazy (Warsaw 2004), Nauka Freuda w epoce Sein und Zeit (Warsaw 2007) and Prześniona rewolucja (Warsaw 2014), among others.

Tomasz Łysak - adjunct professor at the University of Warsaw. He studies representations of the Holocaust in media, psychoanalysis, photography, film and autobiography. His articles have been published in “American Studies”, “Kwartalnik Filmowy”, “Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry” and „Slovo: an Interdisciplinary Journal of Russian, East-Central European, and Eurasian Affairs” among others, as well as in numerous collective publications. Editor of Antologia studiów nad traumą (Cracow 2015).