Traumatic Pasts in Asia : History, Psychiatry, and Trauma From the 1930s to the Present

In the early twenty-first century, trauma is seemingly everywhere, whether as experience, diagnosis, concept, or buzzword. Yet even as many scholars consider trauma to be constitutive of psychological modernity or the post-Enlightenment human condition, historical research on the topic has overwhelmingly focused on cases, such as World War I or the Holocaust, in which Western experiences and actors are foregrounded. There remains an urgent need to incorporate the methods and insights of recent historical trauma research into a truly global perspective. The chapters in __Traumatic Pasts in Asia__ make just such an intervention, extending Euro-American paradigms of traumatic experience to new sites of world-historical suffering and, in the process, exploring how these new domains of research inform and enrich earlier scholarship. Introduction. History, trauma, and Asia / Hans Pols and Mark S. Micale -- Tropical stupor? An investigation into patients affected by earthquakes and tropical weather in colonial Taiwan / Harry Yi-Jui Wu -- Male hysteria in modern Japan : trauma, masculinity, and military psychiatry during the Asia-Pacific War / Eri Nakamura -- Atomic trauma : Japanese psychiatry in Hiroshima and Nagasaki / Ran Zwigenberg -- "Yankee-style trauma" : the Korean War and the Americanization of psychiatry in the Republic of Korea / Jennifer Yum-Park -- "No PTSD in Vietnam" : psychological trauma, psychic shock, and the biology of war suffering in the context of the American War / Narquis Barak -- Psychological trauma and suffering in long distance friendships involving political prisoners in Indonesia / Vannessa Hearman -- Haunting and recovery in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia / Caroline Bennett -- A field of happiness : space, trauma, and dealing with existential precarity of the sent-down youth in China / Hua Wu -- Performing songs as healing the trauma of the 1965 anti-communist killings in Indonesia / Dyah Pitaloka and Mohan J. Dutta -- Healing our sacrifice : trauma and translation in the Burmese democracy movement / Seinenu M. Thein-Lemelson -- Beyond PTSD : politics of visibility in a Kashmiri clinic / Saiba Varma -- War memorials : materializing traumatic pasts and constructing memories of the Asia-Pacific War / Maki Kimura -- Afterword: Traumatic pasts, haunting futures / Byron J. Good CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Introduction HISTORY, TRAUMA, AND ASIA Chapter 1 TROPICAL STUPOR? An Investigation into Patients Affected by Earthquakes and Tropical Weather in Colonial Taiwan Chapter 2 MALE HYSTERIA IN MODERN JAPAN Trauma, Masculinity, and Military Psychiatry during the Asia-Pacific War Chapter 3 ATOMIC TRAUMA Japanese Psychiatry in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Chapter 4 “YANKEE-STYLE TRAUMA” The Korean War and the Americanization of Psychiatry in the Republic of Korea Chapter 5 “NO PTSD IN VIETNAM” Psychological Trauma, Psychic Shock, and the Biology of War Suffering in the Context of the American War Chapter 6 PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA AND SUFFERING IN LONG DISTANCE FRIENDSHIPS INVOLVING POLITICAL PRISONERS IN INDONESIA Chapter 7 HAUNTING AND RECOVERY IN POST-KHMER ROUGE CAMBODIA Chapter 8 A FIELD OF HAPPINESS Space, Trauma, and Existential Precarity among China’s Sent-Down Youth Chapter 9 PERFORMING SONGS AS HEALING THE TRAUMA OF THE 1965 ANTI-COMMUNIST KILLINGS IN INDONESIA Chapter 10 HEALING OUR SACRIFICE Trauma and Translation in the Burmese Democracy Movement Chapter 11 BEYOND PTSD The Politics of Visibility in a Kashmiri Clinic Chapter 12 WAR MEMORIALS Materializing Traumatic Pasts and Constructing Memories of the Asia-Pacific War Afterword TRAUMATIC PASTS, HAUNTING FUTURES INDEX "In the early twenty-first century, trauma is seemingly everywhere, whether as experience, diagnosis, concept, or buzzword. Yet even as many scholars consider trauma to be constitutive of psychological modernity or the post-Enlightenment human condition, historical research on the topic has overwhelmingly focused on cases, such as World War I or the Holocaust, in which Western experiences and actors are foregrounded. There remains an urgent need to incorporate the methods and insights of recent historical trauma research into a truly global perspective. The chapters in Traumatic Pasts in Asia make just such an intervention, extending Euro-American paradigms of traumatic experience to new sites of world-historical suffering and, in the process, exploring how these new domains of research inform and enrich earlier scholarship"-- Provided by publisher

In the early twenty-first century, trauma is seemingly everywhere, whether as experience, diagnosis, concept, or buzzword. Yet even as many scholars consider trauma to be constitutive of psychological modernity or the post-Enlightenment human condition, historical research on the topic has overwhelmingly focused on cases, such as World War I or the Holocaust, in which Western experiences and actors are foregrounded. There remains an urgent need to incorporate the methods and insights of recent historical trauma research into a truly global perspective. The chapters in Traumatic Pasts in Asia make just such an intervention, extending Euro-American paradigms oftraumaticexperience to new sites of world-historical suffering and, in the process, exploring how these new domains of research inform and enrich earlier scholarship.