Dwelling in the place of devastation: Transcendence and the everyday in recovery from trauma

Abstract

In this essay, I critically evaluate Veena Das's assertion that recovery from trauma takes place through ‘descent into the everyday’ rather than ‘ascent into the transcendent’ (2007). This article unpacks Das's contributions to the understanding of ‘the everyday’ as a complex intersubjective achievement, but also uses ethnographic examples to look more carefully at the interplay between transcendence and the everyday in healing. With a case study of a community choir reconciliation project in Sarajevo, Bosnia, the author describes a group of people tacking back and forth between modes of everyday engagement and transcendence as they reach toward healing for themselves and their audiences. The article argues that locally-relevant forms of ‘ascent into the transcendent’ are ways of moving beyond the everyday, but are also firmly embedded in everyday life. It calls for more careful attention to the relationship between transcendence and the everyday, and the role each can play in recovery from trauma.