Global reception is an area heavily studied when examining life narratives and autobiographies. (Schaffer and Smith) Society often focuses on their ability to provoke social change, to influence the public worldwide. Yet, it is often neglected that these narratives are works beyond a mode of mass communication. Life narratives act as an extension of the author’s memories, a physical piece of the stories within their minds. In creating this tangible piece of work, I question what specific aspect of the physical act of life writing creates such a therapeutic liberation.
Dany Laferrière in his memoir, The World Is Moving Around Me, calls upon the need to identify the trauma triggered by the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. He emphasizes the importance of “[confronting] “the thing”” (World 46), in this case the trauma and aftermath of the earthquake, if the people “intend to digest” (World 46) the struggles facing them. For Laferrière himself, the act of noting down daily events proves to be his liberation. In the passage, “Brussels Hotel” he depicts the necessity and impulse to write as he is faced with the frenzy of the Brussels Book Fair. The book, the source for him to relay his experiences, is “just as much for [himself] as for others.” (World 180). So while he is writing to show the world Haiti from an insider perspective, he is also writing in order for himself to become an outsider. By converting thoughts on to paper, it provides Laferrière the ability to view his own experience objectively, void of the emotional impact of internal memories (Psychology Today). In doing so, he can better observe the given situation, and provide an analysis to the confused and fragmented memories resulting from trauma.
In addition to the act of writing, it is the fact that the writer has full mobility to represent the situation to the most accurate detail that separates life-writing therapy from other forms of treatment. Yet one interesting point that Dany Laferrière brings up is the question of who is entitled to represent the situation of the earthquake. Laferrière’s nephew states that the earthquake is “the event of his generation, not [Laferrière’s]” (World 50). How does this mindset influence the older generations of Haiti to handle and grasp the aftermath? Does it prevent people from truly dealing with the trauma they face, and force them to “look untouched” (World 47)? Laferrière describes people’s deliberant avoidance to talk about “the thing” (World 46). Is this evasion due to fear of the topic itself, or the lack of a platform to openly express their reactions?
In my last post, I examined the social constructions of self-identity through social media. In a time where tweets and Facebook statuses dominate the online blogging of an individual’s life, I wonder how these acts contribute the ability to cope with traumatic events. Can hashtags create the same sense of validation that victims of distress can turn to as their voice? Are location check-ins and blurb posts the modern remedy to help those going through hardship cope with their struggles? And is social media a way to cater to the younger generations, making current events no longer events of the older generations?
Works Referenced
Schaffer, Kay. and Smith, Sidonie. “Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights.” Biography, vol. 27 no. 1, 2004, pp. 1-24.
“Turning Trauma Into Story: The Benefits Of Journaling”. Psychology Today. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
Laferrière, Dany, “The World Is Moving Around Me”. Translated by David Homel. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press. 2011. Print.