Rothberg, Michael. “Beyond Tancred and Clorinda: Trauma Studies for Implicated Subjects”.

This introduction to The Future of Trauma Theory looks at the examples of globalized industrial production and human-induced climate change to complicate classical trauma theory. Rothberg makes a plea for a new, post-humanist philosophy of history that pays attention to implicated subject positions beyond the perpetrator and the victim. Rothberg entertains two different approaches to his concept of the implicated subject. First, he criticizes the Eurocentric thinking that also forms the current basis of trauma studies due to the Euro-American academy’s cultural background. He argues that the different sites in which trauma and its theory are produced require a more sophisticated approach to the diverse range of violence connected to it. Rothberg proposes the use of his term ‘implicated subject’ in the sense that the Euro-American community benefits from a system that generates a diverse range of traumatic experiences. Second, Rothberg argues that problems of a planetary scale and temporality like climate change displace the positions of victim and perpetrator. Ultimately, the climate catastrophe makes all human beings into implicated subjects. Rothberg stresses that a new theoretical framework for trauma studies might not always be sufficient to study his proposed cases, since trauma is not the essence of the problems. However, even if a trauma approach is not sufficient, it is necessary for a complete understanding of the issues. Rothberg widens the context of his own concept of the implicated subject and brings it to bear on pressing issues such as climate change and globalized industrial production. He gives suggestions for practical tools to apply the concept and employs it to evaluate possible futures of trauma theory.

Author of this entry: Lisanne Meinen

Rothberg, Michael. “Beyond Tancred and Clorinda: Trauma Studies for Implicated Subjects.” In The Future of Trauma Theory: Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Gert Buelens, Sam Durrant, and Robert Eaglestone, xi-xviii. London: Routledge, 2013.