Trauma and meaning, guilt and forgiveness, shame and honor in hibakushas: a study of testimony and its paradoxes

• Grant number: 16/11396-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2017
• End date: December 20, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Jose Moura Gonçalves Filho
• Grantee: Cristiane Izumi Nakagawa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/21755-0 - Guilt and forgiveness, shame and honor in hibakushas: a study of testimonies and its paradoxes, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The study that is intended to be developed in this doctoral research has, as a goal, the psychological exam of testimonies of hibakushas and may be considered the continuation of the master degree's research entitled "Hiroshima: a catástrofe atômica e suas testemunhas". In the later, methodologically, it was necessary the recognition of political and historical facts, which enable the development of the atomic bombs in the context of the Second World War, retreat this that was also made by a great number of survivors who were seeking to understand the event that they were forced to witness. This historical and political study, together with the psychoanalytic theory of Freud about trauma, were extremely important for the master degree, once that they made it possible the analysis of hibakushas's testimonies in favor of an exam that avoided any psychological reductionisms. In the occasion, approximately two hundred testimonies of atomic bomb survivors were studied and, from this study it was noticed the recurrence of three psychological phenomena that deeply marked the deponent's memories: trauma, shame and guilt. These phenomena, that could not be duly studied in the master degree's research became object of this doctoral research, because they highlight that fact that, in order to truly understand these memories, it is necessary the exam of these narratives in the context of Japanese's culture. This study may brig light to the following paradoxes lived by the Japanese victims: trauma and meaning, shame and honor, guilt and forgiveness.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

NAKAGAWA, Cristiane Izumi. Trauma and meaning, guilt and forgiveness, shame and honor in hibakushas: a study of testimonies and their paradoxes. 2020. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Psicologia (IP/SBD) São Paulo.