Reply to our critics

ABSTRACT

We thank Peter Gatrell, Volker M. Heins, and Leo Lucassen for their insightful critiques on The Cultural Trauma of Decolonization. Colonial Returnees in the National Imagination. Their comments show that the history of postcolonial migrations remains an important, and under-exploited, strategic research material. They also highlight the potential fruitfulness of cultural trauma theory to analyse at least some dimensions of their impacts. All participants have added some probing questions to our – already long – list. In our response, we review their critiques, trying to suggest ways in which they may be incorporated in future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Decolonization
• cultural trauma
• settlers
• repatriation
• expellees
• symbolic opportunity structure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We wish to thank Peter Kivisto for having designed, promoted and organized the review symposium.

2 There are, however, some important exceptions. See the pioneering work by Smith (2003) Other important collective projects are Bosma, Lucassen, and Oostindie (2012); Buettner (2016); Jerónimo and Pinto (2016); Borutta and Jansen (2016). More generally on the collective memories of post-colonial metropoles, see Rothermund (2015).

3 The relationship between the history of German colonialism and the Nazi policies toward Central and Eastern Europe have gained a sizeable attention in contemporary German history. See the different arguments developed by B. Madley (2005). And K. Bachmann (2018).

4 Heins, togheter with Langenohl, has written an insightful essay showing how the strength of the Holocaust memory strongly selected what kinds of sufferance could be given center stage in any public discussion of internal German trauma. See Heins and Langenohl (2011). A Fire That Doesn’t Burn? The Allied Bombing of Germany and the Cultural Politics of Trauma. Narrating Trauma. R. Eyerman, J. C. Alexander and E. B. Breese. Boulder, Paradigm Publishers: 3–26.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministero dell'universita e della ricerca scientifica: [grant number PRIN 2017 Immigration, integration, settlement. I].