Philippine E-Journals

The Coalescence of Cultural Trauma and Collective Memory in the Compendium of Testimonial Writings (Pagtatagpo sa Kabilang Dulo: Panitikang Testimonial ng Desaparecidos)

Luciana L Urquiola

 

Abstract:

This research correlates the oral history with the testimonial writings about the desaparecidos during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos,in 1965 and until the Arroyo administration in 2010. To establish the relationship between oral history and memorial texts, this phenomenological study gravitated around the discussion between cultural trauma—the objective projection of the horrible experiences of the victims and collective memory—the subjective representations of shared experiences among the surviving relatives of the desaparecidos. With oral history vis-à-vis testimonial works or cultural trauma vis-à-vis collective memory as the focal point of the paper’s discussion, the study established that cultural trauma and collective memory are linked because of the lived experiences of the families and friends of the desaparecidos. Moreover, cultural trauma expressed in oral history is processed through collective memory of the family and friends of desaparecidos who create memorial texts that help perpetuate the memory of the disappeared. This study recommends that researches problematizing the cultural trauma of the family and friends of desaparecidos be utilized as forum of ideas in order to sustain the collectivity as a force to reckon with so that no enforced disappearance ever happens again.