Abstract
This book provides the reader with a provocative lens by which to examine trauma from a sociocultural, historical, and political context. Jennifer Griffiths uses the arts as not only a means of expression for women of color in the aftermath of a traumatic event but goes further by examining how historical trauma and meaning making are firmly embedded in the mind, body, and spirit of women encountering contemporary traumatic events.
In Traumatic Possessions, Griffiths draws on multiple art forms to create a lens by which the reader can gain entry into the subjective experience of women of color. In Dessa Rose, a performance piece by playwright Anne Williams, the body memory of trauma, as represented by whelps on her back from numerous beatings suffered in the era of southern slavery, provides a visceral image of the brutality. This performance acts out how this experience is embodied both physically and emotionally as well as how “others” question the validity of her experience. Robbie McCauley’s “Sally’s Rape” examines less obvious dimensions by juxtaposing how women from different racial backgrounds are confronted with the reality of the rape of McCauley’s great-great grandmother Sally who was a slave. The performance puts forth to the audience the legacy of the denial of the occurrence of interracial rape and the historical meaning transmitted in families in which this historical event has not been acknowledged.
The strengths of this book are in the author’s ability to integrate theoretical material into the analysis of the art forms she discusses. Griffiths focuses on concepts, such as body memory of trauma, historical and race-related trauma, subjective meaning, media and its attempt to order trauma, cultural memory and transmission, and the pedagogy of shame. She uses a womanist lens to give voice to the historical figures of the past, so the reader is confronted with the significance of the subjective and collective experience of women of color in contemporary times.
This book would be a welcome addition in academic courses that focus on trauma and would be an asset for those who work with survivors of trauma who are struggling to make meaning of a traumatic event. It would stimulate discourse on how to use performance and writing to “give voice” to experiences for which language is not sufficient or available. Traumatic Possessions puts forth the value of using the creative voice as a powerful tool in the process of healing.