...Essays and Studies 1.1 October 2010 Haunting Poetry: Trauma, Otherness and Textuality in Michael Cunningham’s Specimen Days Olu Jenzen Early conceptions of trauma are intimately linked not only with modernity but specifically with the height of industrialisation (Micale and Lerner 2001). This is converged in the opening of Specimen Days particularly in the image of an industrial accident at the ironworks where a young man is killed by the stamping machine. His young brother, replacing him at the machine after the funeral, then experiences an apparition of the dead brother still trapped inside the machine, which leads him to believe that all machines house entrapped ghosts of the dead. Writing on the Victorians’ anxieties about internal disruption caused by the advent of the railway, Jill Matus (2001, 415) has pointed out that, Freud himself remarked in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), [that] there is ‘a condition [which] has long been known and described [and] which occurs after severe mechanical concussions, railway disasters and other accidents involving a risk to life; it has been given the name of traumatic neurosis’ (12). Freud’s remark brings to the fore the traumas of the industrial age as both individually and publicly experienced and negotiated. This condition of trauma as private and public, individual yet also societal is held in tension throughout Cunningham’s novel. Reflecting on the otherness of trauma and its vexed relationship to representation, this...
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...the children have not lived through the Holocaust themselves, postmemory is indeed a legitimate form of memory. Furthermore, when compared to memory, postmemory is equally traumatizing and painful. Although postmemory is a frequent theme in many works from and on the second generation, its validity is still debated. Hirsch first defines the term as the relationship between the second generation and the memories they inherit from their parents by means of stories, images and behaviors among which they grew up. Karein Goertz, in her essay “Transgenerational Representations of the Holocaust: From Memory to ‘Post-Memory’” also describes postmemory as “a hybrid form of memory that distinguishes itself from personal memory by generational distance and from history by a deep personal connection” (33). Indeed, the prefix “post” in postmemory powerfully captures its essence as an aftermath, a temporal delay and characterizes its disconnectedness from the real sequence of events, setting it apart from the real memory of the survivors. However, it is hard...
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...Living with the past? Should we forget or remember? A dilemma - to remember or to forget? To perhaps gain "closure" from some past physical or emotional trauma by confronting it or by letting it go? Which between "remembering" or "forgetting" creates more private or social well-being? Or is there a third option? Forgiving - and is this even considered? Which provides "health"? What is "health" - freedom from trauma, management of pain? Can a "country" be seen as suffering "ill health"? Can a nation be diagnosed "healthy" or in "ill-health"? Does a "collective memory" embody collective guilt or collective innocence or collective amnesia? Funder's “Stasiland” provides a relatively balanced but personalised analysis of the rise and then demise of East Germany after 1945 and from Communist occupation to re-unification and democracy. Most potently, Funder "records" the personal testimonies (memories) of how both the victims and perpetrators she interviews were affected by such sweeping changes. As a journalist, while she may bias our interpretation towards the victims of the "Stasi" she does not glibly provide simple answers, but she does perhaps re-emphasise both the dangers of forgetting and the dread of remembering the past – the tyranny and fascism of Nazi Germany and the East German totalitarian regime which supplanted it - "to remember or forget— which is healthier? To demolish or fence it off? To dig it up or leave it in the ground?” Chapter 5: The Linoleum Palace: Funder...
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...Positive Psychology Areas of Focus in Relation to Interpersonal and Prosocial Behavior Carmen Amaya Park University 1. Abstract The concepts of Positive Psychology are explored through an intrapersonal, interpersonal, and pro-social lens using empirical research as the basis. The paper examines the history, intentions and scope of positive psychology in relationship to personal experiences and character traits that lead to personal effectiveness. The specific Areas of Focus examine the major principles of Positive Psychology and their importance with regards to; changes in emotional states, cognitive processes and experiences in juxtaposition with current research. The concepts and principles are then applied to current goals, plans and future application in respect to the workplace, environment and culture. Finally, the challenges, obstacles and unanswered questions are discussed in current applications of Positive Psychology. Keywords: Positive Psychology, resiliency, hope, theories, emotion, cognition 2. Positive Psychology Areas of Focus in Relation to Interpersonal and Pro-social Behavior Major Principles and Concepts The primary underlying assumption of positive psychology is that psychology should focus on encouraging people’s strengths rather than fixing their weaknesses (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) assert that as a new psychological paradigm, positive psychology rejects the disease...
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...Through narrative therapy a counselor can help clients gain access to preferred story lines about their lives and identities taking the place of previous negative and self-defeating narratives that destroy the self. Presented in this paper, is an overview of the Narrative therapy and the Social Construction Model and several facets of this approach including poststrucuralism, deconstructionism, self-narratives, cultural narratives, therapeutic conversations, ceremonies, letters and leagues. A personal integration of faith in this family counseling approach is presented and discussed also in this paper. NARUMI AMADOR’S FAMILY CONSELING APPROACH Introduction Narrative therapy is found under the Social Construction Model. Using the Narrative approach, the therapist will not be the central figure in the therapeutic process, instead he will be influential to the client, helping him/her internalize and create new stories within themselves to draw new and healthier assumptions about who they are. This process enables clients to distract from focusing on the negative narratives which defined their past, redefining their lives into future positive stories. Narrative therapists define the problem as the problem instead of defining the client as the problem. The therapy process begins redefining the problem, externalizing it and getting it out in the open. The narrative therapist uses the questioning technique and creates alternative narratives to connect...
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...along with its own problem on how to remember the Holocaust. Without the willing compliance of the other party, reexamining and reevaluating a country’s own false narrative becomes an arduous task filled with challenges. Verhoeven demonstrates this through the different obstacles Sonja must overcome in reexamining her own village’s narrative. Even after suing the city for access to the documents she needs, Sonja still has difficulty attaining the files. Excuses for the delay in the documents arrival ran from “you want the Zumtobel documents… they are still checked out” to “the documents are so old. Too brittle. They mustn’t be touched anymore” to finally “the problem is the documents are too new. Personal rights. You understand, right?...
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...“pioneering masterpiece of feminist literature” (Pompele 61). Since the publication, theorists using a Feminist approach most overwhelmingly study the story.Gilman’s emphasis on the importance of language and text, and the fact that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a tale of mental breakdown, make Lacanian psychoanalytic a natural way to consider the work in order to help readers understand the author’s use of language as a manifestation not of herself but the “other” as a means to safely express herself. As an autobiographical story there exist very undeniable connections between Gilman’s personal life and that of the narrator. A study of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is quite remiss if not offering some of the parallels between the author and the narrator as note of interest. In his dissertation, Pompele approaches the work as an “asylum trauma narrative in which the author gives witness to the personal horror of her own captivity in psychiatric spaces and the forced treatment she had to endure there” (60). At 24, Gilman became terribly weak and depressed. She quickly turned...
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...Introduction In this essay, I will discuss my experience of interviewing a family and constructing a genogram guided by their narrative. For this task, I purposely chose a family that is very different from my family of origin in terms of their cultural heritage. I will reflect on differences and similarities between our families as well as my prejudices and hypothesis that I inevitably constructed before and during the process. To identify this family, I had to approach some colleagues proposing to them to participate in the interview. Fortunately, one of them introduced me to her friend. Francesca had an interest in psychology, and since she was free and not much committed, I did welcome her with a cup of coffee to share more about the interview. After I formally introduced myself to her, I laid down to her the framework of the interview, and she agreed to participate with her husband, Matteo. Family context The family I interviewed comes from Italy, but they moved to the UK 3 years ago. I noticed that knowing these few details I was already constructing hypothesis based on stereotypes. I was dreading the interview because I was expecting to have difficulty in stopping them talking since I was concerned about getting enough information to construct the genogram. I also hypothesized whether being new to the UK makes them consider participating in projects like mine to increase a sense of belonging. Another hypothesis where I imagined them to have very firmly attachments to...
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...Family Counseling Approach: Narrative Lisa R. Murray Liberty University Online Abstract Narrative therapy is a therapeutic approach that is used alone or in conjunction with other methods of therapy. This particular method of therapy is used in family therapy to help clients focus on gaining access to preferred story lines in reference to their lives and identities the family dynamics that may affect them. The preferred story line will replace the place of the previous negative and self-defeating narratives about themselves. Helping clients within a family counseling to begin to become the author of their own story is important in many cases to overcoming multigenerational affects. Narrative therapy aids in this process. This comprehensive evaluation of narrative therapy within the structure of family therapy and the integration of faith will be constructed in the following pages. Keywords: self-defeating, Narrative therapy, multigenerational, therapeutic Introduction Narrative therapy is considered apart of the Social Construction Model. This particular type of therapy, the counselor or therapist is not a dominant entity or focal point of the process. Instead the therapist is seen as an influential individual to the client. The counselor will aid the client with the process of internalization and the creation of new stories or narratives within themselves that help them to draw new assumptions about themselves. This is done through the process of the client...
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...Diasporic Cross-Currents in Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost and Anita Rau Badami’s The Hero’s Walk HEIKE HÄRTING N HIS REVIEW of Anil’s Ghost, Todd Hoffmann describes Michael Ondaatje’s novel as a “mystery of identity” (449). Similarly, Aritha van Herk identifies “fear, unpredictability, secrecy, [and] loss” (44) as the central features of the novel and its female protagonist. Anil’s Ghost, van Herk argues, presents its readers with a “motiveless world” of terror in which “no identity is reliable, no theory waterproof” (45). Ondaatje’s novel tells the story of Anil Tessera, a Sri Lankan expatriate and forensic anthropologist working for a UN-affiliated human rights organization. Haunted by a strong sense of personal and cultural dislocation, Anil takes up an assignment in Sri Lanka, where she teams up with a local archeologist, Sarath Diyasena, to uncover evidence of the Sri Lankan government’s violations of human rights during the country’s period of acute civil war. Yet, by the end of the novel, Anil has lost the evidence that could have indicted the government and is forced to leave the country, carrying with her a feeling of guilt for her unwitting complicity in Sarath’s death. On one hand, Anil certainly embodies an ethical (albeit rather schematic) critique of the failure of global justice. On the other, her character stages diaspora, in Vijay Mishra terms, as the “normative” and “ exemplary … condition of late modernity” (“Diasporic” 441) — a condition usually associated...
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...dedicated and motivated person with a strong passion in my field of interest for the Bachelor of social science (psychology) with criminology elements. I have a strong interest in social and criminal justice as well as in all different types of therapies i.e.: cognitive behavior therapy and narrative therapy. The biggest motivator that led me to choose this field of study was to make a positive difference in people’s lives and to work with individuals on an emotional level. I believe I have the ability to be able to put myself into someone else’s shoes and gage insight and understanding on an individual’s life situation whilst being compassionate and still holding a strong sense of social and criminal justice and believing they can still learn from their actions. I want to further understand people’s behaviors and choices in life this comes from my immense fascination with the science of the human mind; I want to further understand what triggers an individual to make the decisions they do? Is it a trigger? Or is it something they have been preprogrammed to do? Are the triggers a life event, or an emotional, physical or mental tragedy; are they environmental, a home situation or family history? I have confidence in my ability to provide excellent social skills; I’m an effective communicator at all different levels and walks of life and trust that I could communicate to all different ages, genders and personalities. On my life journey I have had some experiences working with...
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...The educator in a pastoral role Registration period: Semester 2, 2015 Student surname │ number: Mennell │ 50918818 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ASSIGNMENT RUBRIC 1 1 SECTION 1: BACKGROUND 2 2 SECTION 2: GUIDANCE FOR MARY 5 2.1 Concepts 5 2.2 Phenomenon of child trauma, and the effects of trauma on Mary’s life 6 2.2.1 Phenomenon of child trauma 6 2.2.2 Effects of trauma on Mary’s life 7 2.3 Parental involvement and parental counselling 8 2.4 An individual and learning intervention program for Mary 9 2.4.1 Important guidelines to take into account 9 2.4.2 Reference to the problems in terms of Mary’s subjects 9 2.4.3 Reporting the abuse, involving support services, and involving Mary’s mother 9 SOURCES CONSULTED 11 ASSIGNMENT RUBRIC According to Best, Lang, Lodge and Watkins (1995:63), one of the most important roles of an educator in a school is to assist learners pastorally. (See your study guide, p. 2) Read the following scenario: “I felt like nothing made sense… .” I am Mary. When I was 11 years old, my mum’s new boyfriend moved in with us. I thought it would be good for mum cos she had a drinking problem and was depressed, and I thought it would make her feel better having him there. At first he was ok and bought me presents, but then mostly he ignored me. Then after a few months he started doing things that made me nervous, like when I was ...
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...Relations, foreign policy, and security studies. Primarily developed by Joseph S. Nye, the concept is typically drawn upon to emphasize the more intangible dimensions of power in a field long dominated by overtly material (i.e. military) power. Recently, some scholars have reframed soft power — specifically the key notion of attraction — as a narrative and linguistic process. This literature, however, has downplayed some of the other deep-seated underpinnings of soft power, which this article argues lie in the dynamics of affect. Building upon the International Relations affect and aesthetics literatures, this article develops the concept of soft power as rooted in the political dynamics of emotion and introduces the concept of affective investment. The attraction of soft power stems not only from its cultural influence or narrative construction, but more fundamentally from audiences’ affective investments in the images of identity that it produces. The empirical import of these ideas is offered in an analysis of the construction of American attraction in the war on terror. Keywords Affect, discourse, emotion, narrative, Nye, soft power Introduction In her confirmation hearings in January 2009 before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued that to deal with a multiplicity of pressing global issues, the US ‘must...
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...Comparisson of Masculinity and the Psychoanalytic theories using the example of the Fight Club. Introduction. Fight club is an interesting film to be reflected through psychoanalytic and masculinity theories. In this essay I will attempt to present the number of elements of narrative that can be explained by these theories. I intend to use citations from Marc A. Price's essay The Fight for Self: The Language of the Unconscious in Fight club regarding psychoanalytical concepts such as ego, super-ego and the id as well as Lynn M. Ta's dissertation Hurt So Good: Fight Club, Masculine Violence, and the Crisis of Capitalism (regarding masulinity in the film), as these works were the main sources of my research. Then I'll try to come to the conclusion on which of two theories have more strength at being applied to films (primarily Fight Club). Application of theories and analysis. The connection that we shall draw between psychoanalytic theory and the film Fight Club is simple and is this; the narrator is a representation of the ego, for Tyler Durden we can substitute the id. In the Freudian psychic model the ego is the civilized part of consciousness. The ego is that part of the psychic apparatus that is modified so that a being can interact safely with other beings and thus remain accepted within the social group. It is important for identity formation that the individual is accepted by the group (that is wider society) therefore, a controlled id is...
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...‘How do adults perceive that significant others in their lives (i.e. people who are or have been important to them) have affected their development?’ Abstract John Bowlby’s theory of attachment asserts that in childhood attachments are formed between the infant and the caregiver. It also asserts that these attachments form the basis of adult relationships. This qualitative thematic analysis of an interview with Chloe attempts to show how early attachments form a framework of later development. This study shows some support for Bowlby’s theory of the continuity of attachment behaviour but also shows that the nature of attachments can change throughout life in particular due to adult relationships and life experience. Introduction The field of developmental psychology is concerned with understanding how our mental outlook can change over the course of a lifetime. It considers both the effects of cultural and environmental factors and the internal motivations of the individual. One of the main area of research is understanding the degree of continuity in how behaviour is formed and to what degree it can be influenced by past experience. In the area of human relationships, Attachment theory (as cited in Wood et al., 2007) explores how relationships develop. Bowlby (as cited in Wood et al., 2007) proposed that we have a basic biological drive to form an attachment to a ‘mother figure’ at birth. The nature of the attachment gives rise to a ‘internal working model’ in...
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