Guilt and forgiveness, shame and honor in hibakushas: a study of testimonies and its paradoxes

• Grant number: 17/21755-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 08, 2018
• End date: February 27, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Jose Moura Gonçalves Filho
• Grantee: Cristiane Izumi Nakagawa
• Supervisor: Robert Alan Jacobs
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Hiroshima City University, Japan
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/11396-0 - Trauma and meaning, guilt and forgiveness, shame and honor in hibakushas: a study of testimony and its paradoxes, BP.DR

Abstract

The doctorate research "Trauma and meaning, guilt and forgiveness, shame and honor in hibakushas: a study of testimony and its paradoxes" aims, as the title suggests, an analysis of testimonies of hibakushas with great attention to three important psychological phenomena recurrent in the memories of survivors and of difficult interpretation: trauma, guilt and shame. To properly analyze and understand these testimonies, it was noticed, during the master degree research, that a study of the Japanese culture for these psychological phenomena was mandatory. Through this study we may avoid, as suggested by Setsuko Thurlow, a "western understanding of hibakusha experiences", which by a process of acculturation shadows the singularity of these memories in their messages of pain and suffering. Therefore, in order to fulfill this analysis of testimonies, this research internship abroad aims: 1) interviews with atomic bomb survivors. These interviews are going to be held at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and will follow a script that intends to rise memories of the atomic event, with special attention to the paradoxes guilt and forgiveness, shame and honor; 2) a semiological study of the meanings given by the hibakushas to these paradoxes through a study of the Japanese culture in constant dialogue with testimonies of atomic bomb survivors from the database of Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. This research internship abroad will be done at Hiroshima City University/Hiroshima Peace Institute under the supervision of Prof. PhD Robert Alan Jacobs, specialized on hibakusha studies, during the months of January and February of 2018. (AU)