Reading List for POW Literature and Trauma Theory

3-5 secondary or theoretical works:

“Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction” (Simon During)

“International Responses to Traumatic Stress” (Yael Danieli, Nigel S. Rodley, Lars Weisaeth)

“Guantanamo and the Logic of Colonialism: The Deportation of Enemy Indians and Enemy Combatants” (Robert Perez)

“Speak, Trauma: Toward a Revised Understanding of Literary Trauma Theory” (Joshua Pederson”

1 Academic Journal

 Journal of International Relations and Foreign Policy

1-3 Far-reaching Keywords/Key terms

  1. Colonialism
  2. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Trauma Theory
  3. Prisoner of war literature

Description of Reading List

I started this list with a book that covers a very broad topic, and then narrowed those general topics down as I went further into my research. I located these sources by posing two basic questions to myself: “how did colonialism help to shape a culture of conquest, and therefore, a culture of legal imprisonment that carries into the modern day – specifically from WWII and on?” and “how does literature that comes from prisoners of war differ from literature published by peripheral sources who merely report on war?”.

To answer these questions, I started with a book discussing cultural studies as a theoretical lens that would be applicable to the culture of war, both in the past and present, and how cultures develop based upon the way they engage with other cultures across the world. I wanted to use this blanket term as my theoretical lens so that I can accurately understand the way a culture, both in its contemporary and its past sense, can contribute to the development of war, and how other aspects of culture (media, the public sphere, etc.) contribute to the progression and continuation of war.

From there, I decided to focus on colonialism theory in relation to modern day examples of war and imprisonment to better define the effects of colonialism, and the way colonialism can lead to war, imprisonment, and empires. I chose an article that encompasses this idea of colonialism, while also applying it to Guantanamo Bay to give it a more contemporary edge – and one that starts delving further into my interests with prisoner of war literature. I then chose two articles that deal directly with the responses to trauma and stress – specifically that trauma and stress as it is derived from war and unfair imprisonment. One focuses more on the way literature acts as a point of relief from trauma, which will help to lead into some of my primary sources about prisoner of war poetry and inmate literature. The other focuses on how the world views traumatic stress, and how trauma theory (later coined post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD) are accepted or pushed back on in society.