Secondary or Theoretical Works (3-5)
Danilei, Yael, Nigel S. Rodley and Lars Weisaeth. International Responses to Traumatic Stress. Baywood Publishing, 1996.
During, Simon. Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, 2005.
Pederson, Joshua. “Speak, Trauma: Toward a Revised Understanding of Literary Trauma Theory.” Narrative, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 333-353.
Perez, Rober. “Guantanamo and the Logic of Colonialism: The Deportation of Enemy Indians and Enemy Combatants.” Radical Philosophy Review, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 25-47.
Primary Sources (4-8)
Brown, Ed. A Soldier’s Fortune and Other Poems: Moving Past PTSD and Creating A Fun-loving Life. Agio Publishing House, 2014.
Falkoff, Mark. Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak. University of Iowa Press, 2007.
Lange, Dorothea. Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese Internment. W.W. Norton, 2006.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Knopf, 1987.
Morrison, Toni. Home. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Okada, John. No-No Boy. Combined Asian American Resource Project, 1976.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. Penguin Books, 2006.
Academic Journal (1)
Journal of International Relations and Foreign Policy
Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History
Far-reaching Keywords/Key terms (1-3)
- Colonialism
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Trauma Theory
- 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.
Updated Reading List Description
My reading list hasn’t shifting very much in terms of theoretical or secondary works, but I’ve made some definite headway in terms of some primary sources I plan on engaging with to progress my ideas about trauma theory and PTSD. Although I placed a lot of emphasis on colonialism and how it affected the current culture of imprisonment (from WWII and on), I’ve been dealing with a lot of primary texts that deal with reports of trauma, stress and homelessness (as in, a feeling of a lack of a true “home”) to play further into the side of PTSD and the affects of trauma after war, imprisonment, etc. I’ve had some really great conversations with Professor Seiler about the primary texts that would be appropriate to incorporate in my work, and how they can further my understanding of how these traumatic events take action on the minds and self-awareness of victims of trauma.
Both Poems from Guantanamo Bay and A Solider’s Fortune and Other Poems show how literature has helped to aid in the recovery of people experiencing PTSD, while Beloved, Home, No-No Boy and Ceremony explain the aftermath of trauma in someone’s life, in terms of hallucinations, alcoholism, self-destructive behavior, isolation from friends and family, and heightened anxiety. I also added a book (Impounded) that details the lives of the Japanese during the time of internment in the US in hopes of adding another main event in US history to my realm, and to place more emphasis on imprisonment and PTSD as well. Although I’m still adding and deleting things from my primary source list, I feel as though the books I’ve chosen to focus on shed light on some of the main touch-points of trauma theory and PTSD that I want to focus on.
In addition to choosing my primary sources, I also found a new academic journal I plan to work with that is more relevant to the ideas I want to focus on in my research. The articles in this journal focus on the history of colonialism, starting in as early as the 10th century and into the current times, which aligns perfectly with what I want to focus on in terms of how colonialism spawned the ideas of war and imprisonment, and how those practices have continued on into the modern day.