Between Wounds and Witness: Memory and the Relational Fabric of Repair

Abstract

This editorial examines trauma as a multidimensional phenomenon – psychological, cultural, political, and embodied – that profoundly shapes individual lives and people’s sense of connection to shared histories. Situating the discussion within contemporary global crises and scholarly debates, it draws on key concepts from trauma theory, including Caruth’s understanding of trauma as “unclaimed experience”, Hirsch’s postulation of “postmemory”, and van der Kolk’s work on embodied trauma. Emphasising relationality, it explores how trauma circulates across generations and geographies, mediated through storytelling, witnessing, and affective transmission. It reflects on the limits of dominant Western frameworks and highlights the need for culturally situated approaches that account for diverse historical and social conditions. The special issue it introduces brings together scholars who explore the representation and repair of trauma through literature, testimony, historical sources, and aesthetics, foregrounding the role of narrative in fostering connection, resilience, and ethical responsibility in the face of rupture.