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The contributions to this volume probe the complex relationship of trauma, memory, and narrative. By looking at the South African situation through the lens of trauma, they make clear how the psychic deformations and injuries left behind by racism and colonialism cannot be mended by material reparation or by simply reversing economic and political power-structures. Western trauma theories – as developed by scholars such as Caruth, van der Kolk, Herman and others – are insufficient for analysing the more complex situation in a postcolony such as South Africa. This is because Western trauma concepts focus on the individual traumatized by a single identifiable event that causes PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). What we need is an understanding of trauma that sees it not only as a result of an identifiable event but also as the consequence of an historical condition – in the case of South Africa, that of colonialism, and, more specifically, of apartheid. For most black and coloured South Africans, the structural violence of apartheid’s laws were the existential condition under which they had to exist. The living conditions in the townships, pass laws, relocation, and racial segregation affected great parts of the South African population and were responsible for the collective traumatization of several generations. This trauma, however, is not an unclaimed (and unclaimable) experience. Postcolonial thinkers who have been reflecting on the experience of violence and trauma in a colonial context, writing from within a Fanonian tradition, have, on the contrary, believed in the importance of reclaiming the past and of transcending mechanisms of victimization and resentment, so typical of traumatized consciousnesses. Narration and the novel have a decisive role to play here.

Psychic trauma in literature --- Psychic trauma --- English --- Languages & Literatures --- English Literature --- Psychic trauma in literature. --- South African fiction --- South African literature --- History and criticism. --- Psychic trauma. --- South Africa. --- Emotional trauma --- Injuries, Psychic --- Psychic injuries --- Trauma, Emotional --- Trauma, Psychic --- Psychology, Pathological --- Afrika Selatan --- Azania --- Derom Afriḳah --- Dorem-Afriḳe --- Iriphabhuliki Yaseningizimu Afrika --- I͡U.A.R. --- I͡UAR --- I͡Uzhno-Afrikanskai͡a Respublika --- I͡Uzhno-Afrikanskiĭ Soi͡uz --- Južnoafrički savez --- Nan Fei --- Nanfei --- Republic of South Africa --- República da Africa do Sul --- Republika Południowej Afryki --- RSA --- Sud Africa --- Sudafrica --- Suid-Afrika --- Unie van Suid-Afrika --- Union of South Africa --- África del Sur --- África do Sul --- Afrique du Sud --- Dél-Afrika --- Dél-Afrikai Köztársaság --- Güney Afrika --- Güney Afrika Cumhuriyeti --- iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika --- iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika --- iRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika --- iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika --- Janūb Ifrīqiy --- Jihoafrická republika --- Juhoafrická republika --- Jumhūrīyat Janūb Ifrīqiy --- Južná Afrika --- Minami Afurika Kyōwakoku --- Nan Fei Gongheguo --- Nanfei Gongheguo --- Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa --- Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa --- Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa --- Repubblica del Sud Africa --- República da África do Sul --- República de Sudáfrica --- Republiek van Suid-Afrika --- Republik Südafrika --- Republik Suedafrika --- République Sud Africaine --- Riphabliki ya Afrika Dzonga --- Riphabul̳iki ya Afurika Tshipembe --- Sud África --- Sudáfrica --- Südafrika