Cross-Cultural Encounters in American Trauma Narratives: A Comparative Approach to Personal and Collective Memories

Titlu proiect / Project Title: Intalniri interculturale in naratiuni ale traumelor din spatiul american: Studiu comparativ asupra memoriilor personale si colective / Cross-Cultural Encounters in American Trauma Narratives: A Comparative Approach to Personal and Collective Memories (no. 64 / 2011, PN-II-RU-TE-2011-3-0149)

Sursa de finantare / Financing: UEFISCDI, prin programul national de cercetare, PN-II-RU-TE, competitia Tinere Echipe din anul 2011 / National Council for Scientific Research – PN-II-RU-TE Programme, 2011 annual competition.

Durata proiectului / Project Duration: 3 ani (octombrie 2011 – octombrie 2014) / 3 years (October  2011 – October 2014).

Membrii proiectului / Project Members:

Conf. dr. Roxana Oltean – director

Prof. dr. Rodica Mihaila

Lect. dr. Mihaela Precup

Lect. dr. Dana Mihailescu

Rezumat si obiective / Project summary and main objectives:

Situated at the interface of American cultural, ethnic, literary, visual and memory studies, this project attempts to explore cross-cultural and trans-generational encounters in post-World-War-Two American trauma narratives by mapping out traumatic memory in successive cycles of American narratives generated by major moments of trauma in U.S. history or European history impacting the U.S. through geopolitical consequences or extensive public debate in the U.S.: the Holocaust, (post) Cold War configurations, the Vietnam War, the AIDS crisis and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What these events have in common is the fact that they are traumatic moments characterized by considerable loss of life, infringement of human rights, and the production of subsequent ideological battlefields which led to heated debates inthe U.S. on how verbal and visual testimonies should be constructed. We read these narratives as not separate but interconnected, in the sense that they shape the U.S. as a common space of post-traumatic cross-cultural and transnational dialogue between generations, where trauma is transmitted through verbal and visual testimony. The corpus of narratives under discussion includes: fiction, memoirs, visual narratives, testimonies written in the U.S. The selection discloses a wide diversity of memories and voices, belonging to East European immigrants (the Holocaust and (post)communism), to people marginalized because of differences of class, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation (the Vietnam War and the AIDS crisis), and to a seemingly prosperous multicultural America, the target of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Thus, the proposed theme of this project is topical, dynamic, and conversant with essential current issues of worldwide research interest, involving memory, history, trauma and forgetting, as well as transnational and generational bonds. 

Rezultatele cercetarii / Results of research:

Publica??ii în cadrul proiectului / Publications

2014

Dana Mih�?ilescu, Mihaela Precup and Roxana Oltean, eds. Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American Narratives. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. ISBN (10): 1-4438-5672-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5672-0.

Mih�?il�?, Rodica. “Healing the Nation, Memorializing Trauma: Ground Zero and the Critique of Exceptionalism in the Recent American Novel.”Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American Narratives. Eds. Dana Mih�?ilescu, Mihaela Precup and Roxana Oltean. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. 286-299. ISBN (10): 1-4438-5672-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5672-0.

Mih�?ilescu, Dana. “Negotiating Traumas via Cross-Cultural Urban Identity Configurations out of Grief: Aleksandar Hemon’s The Lazarus Project.” Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American Narratives. Eds. Dana Mih�?ilescu, Mihaela Precup and Roxana Oltean. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. 31-53. ISBN (10): 1-4438-5672-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5672-0.

Oltean, Roxana. ‘“Stalintowns Aplenty”: Totalitarian Cityscapes in Transatlantic Memory.’ Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American Narratives. Eds. Dana Mih�?ilescu, Mihaela Precup and Roxana Oltean. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. 54-78. ISBN (10): 1-4438-5672-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5672-0.

Precup, Mihaela. “The Transgressive Mourner in Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking (2005) and Blue Nights (2011), and Joyce Carol Oates’s A Widow’s Story (2011).” Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American Narratives. Eds. Dana Mih�?ilescu, Mihaela Precup and Roxana Oltean. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. 192- 210. ISBN (10): 1-4438-5672-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5672-0.

Precup, Mihaela. States of Displacement in American Literature and Popular Culture. Bucharest: University of Bucharest Press,  2013 (publicata in 2014). ISBN 978-606-16-0365-7

Precup, Mihaela. The American Graphic Memoir. An Introduction. Bucharest: University of Bucharest Press, 2013 (publicata in 2014). ISBN 978-606-16-0364-0

Mih�?ilescu, Dana. “Traumatic Echoes of Memories in Child Survivors’ Narratives of the Holocaust: The Polish Experiences of Micha?? G??owi??ski and Henryk Grynberg.” European Review of History/Revue européenne d’histoire 21.1 (February 2014): 73-90. ISSN: 1350-7486 (Print), 1469-8293 (Online) (Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, ISI-AHCI journal); http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13507486.2013.869791#.UwuN0jNWHIU

Mih�?ilescu, Dana.“Photography and Prose Pictures in Beloved: The Frames of Emotional Memory.” Toni Morrison – Au-delà du visible ordinaire / Toni Morrison – Beyond the Ordinary Visible. Eds. Maryemma Graham, Janis Mayes and Andrée-Anne Kekeh. Paris: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, forthcoming October 2014. 97-109. L’imaginaire du texte series. ISBN : 978-2-84292-413-3. http://www.puv-univ-paris8.org/catalogue/tous-les-titres/toni-morrison-au-dela-du-visible-ordinaire-9782842924133-0-598.html

2013

Mih�?ilescu, Dana.Being without Pleasurable Memories: On the Predicament of the Shoah’s Child Survivors in Norman Manea’s “Proust’s Tea” and Kindred Narratives.” American Imago 70.1 (Spring 2013): 107-124. E-ISSN: 1085-7931; Print ISSN: 0065-860X [Published by Johns Hopkins University Press, ISI-AHCI Journal]; http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/american_imago/v070/70.1.mih-ilescu.html

Mih�?ilescu, Dana. Memory Cues Imbricated in Nineteenth Century Family Photos from the American South: On William Faulkner’s Absalom! Absalom!. University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies 3.1 (December 2013): 116-124. ISSN: 2069-8658. 

Oltean, Roxana. ‘”Self-Obsessed and Incomprehensible.” Remembering (Post)Communist Traumas in the American Imaginary.’ University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies 3.1 (December 2013): 41-57. ISSN: 2069-8658. 

Precup, Mihaela.“The Dead in the Memory Palace: The Detective Work of Memory and Mourning in The Mentalist (CBS, 2008-).” University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies ((December 2013): 182-189. ISSN: 2069-8658.

Precup, Mihaela.“Blueprints for a Forward-Dawning Futurity”: Brynjar  Åbel Banlien’s Strîmb Life (2009) and Strîmb Living – 5 Years with Oskar (2011), Comics Forum, May 2013

2012

Mih�?ilescu, Dana.Images of Romania and America in Early Twentieth-Century Romanian-Jewish Immigrant Life Stories in the United States.” East European Jewish Affairs 42: 1 (April 2012): 25-43. [Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, Manchester, UK, ISI-AHCI indexed journal. ISSN: 1350-1674 (Print), 1743-971X (Online)


Mih�?ilescu, Dana. Review of Mémoires des Juifs de Roumanie, by Mehdi Chebana and Jonas Mercier Mure-Ravaud. Journal of Jewish Studies 63.1 (April 2012): 186-189. ISSN 0022-2097 [Oxford, UK, ISI-AHCI-indexed journal] http://www.jjs-online.net/toc.php?subaction=content&id=063_01.

Mih�?ilescu, Dana.On the Performative Lure of War Memories: Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story”.” University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies (vol.1, no 2, 2011, p. in 2012): 105-114. <http://pdc-connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/73181735/performative-lure-war-memories-tim-obriens-how-tell-true-war-story>.  ISSN: 2069-8658. 

2011

 Mih�?ilescu, Dana.Legacies of a Traumatic Past in Romanian Jews’ Artworks. Review of Exhibition Crossroads: Jewish Artists during the Holocaust.Images. A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture (Brill Press), 2011. 111-113. ISSN 1871-7993, Online ISSN: 1871-8000. [Ingenta Brill / EBSCOHOST databases]

Precup, Mihaela.A Review of Hilary Chute’s Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics.” 545-548. Biography 34.4 (Fall 2011) E-ISSN: 1529-1456; Print-ISSN: 0162-4962 [ISI-AHCI Indexed Journal]

Stagii de cercetare efectuate în cadrul proiectului  în afara României / Research trips outside Romania within our project:

Manchester University Library, Manchester (Mihaela Precup, 06.07.2012-21.07.2012)

Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris (Dana Mihailescu, 17.08.2012-30.08.2012)

East Central European Center, Columbia University, New York (Roxana Oltean, 23.04.2013-08.05.2013)

Participare conferin??e în cadrul proiectului / Conference participation funded by our project:

Dana Mihailescu, “Being without Pleasurable Memories: On the Predicament of Shoah’s Children-Survivors in Norman Manea’s “Proust’s Tea,” Beyond camps and forced labour: current international research on survivors of Nazi persecution Conference, Imperial War Museum, London, 4-6 January 2012 (http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/public-document/BCaFL-Programme2.pdf)

Rodica Mihaila, “Healing the Nation? The Critique of Exceptionalism in the Post-9/11 American Novel,” plenary lecture, EAAS Conference Health of a Nation, 30 March-2 April 2012, Izmir, Turkey (http://www.eaas2012.org/files/downloads/Conference_Program-24-Subat.pdf)

Dana Mihailescu, “Memory Cues Imbricated in Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Family Photos from the American South: William Faulkner’s Absalom! Absalom!,Cultures of Memory/Memories of Culture International Conference, organized by the English Department from the University of Bucharest, Bucharest, 6-8 June 2013 (http://www.unibuc.ro/depts/limbi/literatura_engleza/conferinte.php)

Roxana Oltean, „Transatlantic Memory: Negotiating Cold War Broadcasting Policies,” Cultures of Memory/Memories of Culture International Conference, organized by the English Department from the University of Bucharest, Bucharest, 6-8 June 2013 (http://www.unibuc.ro/depts/limbi/literatura_engleza/conferinte.php)

Mihaela Precup, “The Dead in the Memory Palace: The Detective Work of Memory and Mourning in The Mentalist (CBS, 2008-),” Cultures of Memory/Memories of Culture International Conference, organized by the English Department from the University of Bucharest, Bucharest, 6-8 June 2013 (http://www.unibuc.ro/depts/limbi/literatura_engleza/conferinte.php)

Mihaela Precup, “Drawn Photographs and the Performance of (Post)Memory in Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know,”  Picturing Photography in Graphic Memoirs Panel, MLA Conference, Boston, U.S., 3–6 January 2013 (http://www.mla.org/conv_past)

Mihaela Precup, ““It came from Alpha Centaur looking for love”: The Mutant and Non-human Body in Denis Kitchen’s Bizarre Sex (1972-1982),” Small Press and Undergrounds Conference, organized by Comics Forum, Leeds, UK, 21-22 November 2013 (http://comicsforum.org/comics-forum-archives/comics-forum-2013/)

Dana Mihailescu, “Haunting Specters of World War II Memories from a Transgenerational Ethical Perspective in Miriam Katin’s We Are on Our Own and Letting It Go,” Workshop on The Ethics of War and Conflict in Graphic Narratives organized by Rebecca Scherr and Mihaela Precup, 2014 EAAS Conference “America: Justice, Conflict, War,” The Hague, Netherlands, 3-6 April 2014, (http://www.eaas2014.org/ehome/eaas2014/141766/?&&)

Dana Mihailescu, “Understanding the Past through Holocaust Child Survivors’ Voices: The Input of Mnemonic Structures Molded on Cognitive and Critical/Creative Grids,” “Looking at then Now” Oral History Conference, Oral History Division, Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 8-10 June 2014, http://www.hum.huji.ac.il/english/units.php?cat=5019&incat=4254.

Dana Mihailescu, “Facets of Romanian Anti-Semitism in Memoirs by Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Romanian Jewish Immigrants to the U.S.,” Collaborative Outreach Workshop: Anti-Semitism in Romania and Moldova, 1881-1991, project organized by Dr. Irina Marin (University of Leceister) and Dr. Raul Cârstocea (European Centre for Minority Issues, Flensburg, Germany), held at the Stanley Burton Centre, University of Leicester, 2 July 2014 (http://romanianmoldovanresearchgroup.wordpress.com/

Dana Mihailescu, “Family Pictures Constructing Narratives of Transpersonal Being: On Svetlana Boym’s Visual Projects Unforeseen Past and Touching Photographs–Most Wanted,” Picturing the Family: Media, Narrative, Memory Conference, Birkbeck, University of London, 10-11 July 2014. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/brakc/conference.html.

Mihaela Precup, “Comrades and Hippies: A Family Album from the Romanian Communist Dictatorship,” Picturing the Family: Media, Narrative, Memory Conference, Birkbeck, University of London, 10-11 July 2014. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/brakc/conference.html.

Mihaela Precup, “Glorious Fanzines, Hardcomics, and Old Timers: Contemporary Comics Production and Consumption in Romania” Graphic Novels and Comics Conference, British Library, London, 18-20 July 2014

Mihaela Precup, “They Always Kill with Wire”: Indonesian Adaptations of American Cinema in The Act of Killing (dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012), English Department Conference “Transnational Dimensions of Literature and the Arts,” University of Bucharest, 5-7 June 2014

Conferin??e organizate în cadrul proiectului / Workshops organized within our project

1. International workshop entitled Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American City Narratives, organized within the bi-annual RAAS-Fulbright conference Remapping Urban Spaces – American Challenges, Ovidius University from Constanta, 4-6 October 2012 (http://raas.ro/conferences):

Friday, October 5th 10.30 – 12.00 Reading Room 1(2nd floor)

Session 4 A: Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American City Narratives

Chair:            Roxana Oltean, University of Bucharest, Rodica Mih�?il�?, University of Bucharest

Roxana Oltean, University of Bucharest

Totalitarian Cityscapes in Transatlantic Memory

Rodica Mih�?il�?, University of Bucharest

Healing the Nation, Memorializing Trauma: Ground Zero and the Critique of Exceptionalism in the Recent American Novel

Cristian Panaite, University of Texas, Dallas

Remembering Communism in Washington DC: Politics, Aesthetics, and Rituals in the Nation’s Capital

Audrey Bardizbanian, University of Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV

Writing Post-Traumatic Memories and the City: Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Friday, October 5th 13.30 – 15.30 Reading Room 1(2nd floor)

Session 5A: Mapping Generations of Traumatic Memory in American City Narratives

Chair:            Roxana Oltean, University of Bucharest, Dana Mih�?ilescu, University of Bucharest

Mihaela Precup, University of Bucharest

“Let us forget walking men”: Levitation and Mourning in Collum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin

Dana Mih�?ilescu, University of Bucharest

Negotiating Traumas via Cross-Cultural Urban Identity Configurations out of Grief: Outlook on Aleksandar Hemon’s The Lazarus Project

Maria Zirra, Utrecht University/University of Bucharest

Nesting Dolls That Don’t Fit: Performing the 1991 Crown Heights Riots in Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in The Mirror

Ilinca-Miruna Diaconu, University of Bucharest

Shadrack’s “shack on the riverbank”: Marginalization and Refuge in Toni Morrison’s Sula

2. Young researcher lecture series: See http://americanstudies.ro/?article=259

3. Workshop on “The Ethics of War and Conflict in Graphic Narratives” organized by Rebecca Scherr and Mihaela Precup, 2014 EAAS Conference “America: Justice, Conflict, War,” The Hague, Netherlands, 3-6 April 2014, (http://www.eaas2014.org/ehome/eaas2014/141766/?&&)

Expozi??ie organizat�? în cadrul proiectului /
Exhibition organized within our project

See www.familylineups.com

Rapoarte anuale de activitate stiintifica / Annual reports of scientific research activities

Raport 2011 / 2011 Report

Raport 2012 / 2012 Report

Raport 2013 / 2013 Report

Raport 2014 / 2014 Report

ro_RO