Rothberg, Michael. “Trauma Theory, Implicated Subjects, and the Question of Israel/Palestine.”

In a short reflection featured in Profession, Michael Rothberg builds on his recent intervention into memory studies, the theorization of the ‘implicated subject.’ He here situates the concept in the context of trauma theory, then introduces the case study of Israel/Palestine.

Rothberg lays out three consequences of what he sees as trauma theory’s excessive focus on a victim/perpetrator binary. The first is that, even if we were to limit our thinking to victims and perpetrators, in reality it can be difficult to clearly delineate between “traumatized victims and traumatizing perpetrators.” In fact, as Rothberg points out, “some of the most famous subjects of trauma—say, soldiers of World War I or Vietnam—have been perpetrators at the same time they suffered from the conditions of violence they helped produce.” Second, focusing on victims and perpetrators leaves out implicated subjects, the position theorized by Rothberg which describes “the indirect responsibility of subjects situated at temporal or geographic distance from the production of social suffering.” Third, recent trauma theory focuses on large, distinct violent events rather than the types of “insidious structural, everyday, and slow forms of violence,” which are also important, and particularly relevant to implication. Rothberg asserts that thinking about implication can help counter these tendencies.

He further underlines the relevance of implication through discussion of a specific case, that of Israel and Palestine. He points out that advocates on both sides of the debate around the “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)” movement to boycott Israel act out of a sense of implication in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Looking specifically at the place of Jewish Americans in the conflict, Rothberg addresses Judith Butler’s Parting Ways, in which she formulates a critique of Zionism that draws in particular from Jewish thought, with Rothberg asserting that this emphasis speaks to a sense that academics and intellectuals are implicated in the conflict. He also addresses Bruce Robbins’ film Some of My Best Friends Are Zionists, in which Jewish Americans speak to their development of a sense of implication vis-à-vis the Israeli state.

In these ways, the essay usefully and specifically builds on Rothberg’s previous work, more directly situating implication with respect to thinking on trauma and vulnerability. While the essay is short, Rothberg builds on a case which he also points to in The Implicated Subject.

Author of this entry: Hannah Jakobsen

Rothberg, Michael. “Trauma Theory, Implicated Subjects, and the Question of Israel/Palestine.” Profession 2 (2014).