Cultural trauma as a condition for the construction of cultural identity

  • Alexei D. Krivolap Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, 17 Rabkaraŭskaja Street, Minsk 220007, Belarus

Abstract

The article is devoted to understanding of cultural trauma phenomenonfor the construction of cultural identity. As a theoretical foundation, the works of such researchers as J. C. Alexander, C. Aydin, R. Eyerman, P. Sztompka, H. Marcuse are used. The article suggests possible interpretations of the understanding of cultural trauma as an integral part of the dynamic process of creating cultural identity, both at the individual and collective levels. The author’s attempt is also presented to show possible connections between understanding the challenges that arose in the post-industrial era for culture (H. Marcuse) and the concept of cultural trauma (J. C. Alexander). The construction of cultural identity facilitates the search for answers to questions about the possibilities of rethinking one’s own past, which makes it possible to accelerate the onset of the future.

Author Biography

Alexei D. Krivolap, Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, 17 Rabkaraŭskaja Street, Minsk 220007, Belarus

PhD (cultural studies); associate professor at the department of cultural studies, faculty of cultural studies and socio-cultural activities

References

  1. Alexander JC. The meanings of social life: a cultural sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003. 296 p.
  2. Sztompka P. The trauma of social change: a case of postcommunist societies. In: Alexander JC, Eyerman R, Giesen B, Smelser NJ, Sztompka P. Cultural trauma and collective identity. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2004. p. 155–195.
  3. Eyerman R. Cultural trauma. Slavery and the formation of African American identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2002. 316 p.
  4. Eyerman R. Memory, trauma, and identity. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan; 2019. 216 p.
  5. Alexander JC. Trauma. A social theory. Cambridge: Polity; 2012. 240 p.
  6. Eyerman R, Sciortino G, editors. The cultural trauma of decolonisation. Colonial returnees in the national imagination. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan; 2020. 246 p.
  7. Aydin C. How to forget the unforgettable? On collective trauma, cultural identity, and mnemotechnologies. An International Journal of Theory and Research. 2017;17(3):125–137. DOI: 10.1080/15283488.2017.1340160.
  8. Marcuse H. Eros i tsivilizatsiya. Odnomernyi chelovek. Issledovanie ideologii razvitogo industrial’nogo obshchestva [Eros and civilisation. One dimensional person. Study of the ideology of a developed industrial society]. Yudin AA, translator; Kuznetsov VYu, compiler. Moscow: AST; 2003. 526 p. Russian.
Published
2023-02-28
Keywords: cultural trauma, cultural identity, memory, future
How to Cite
Krivolap, A. D. (2023). Cultural trauma as a condition for the construction of cultural identity. Human in the Socio-Cultural Dimension, 1, 34-38. Retrieved from https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/pitscd/article/view/5273
Section
Socio-Cultural Communications