[Symposium 64] The long-term effects of the Asia-Pacific War and its transmission across generations in individuals, collectives and societies

[SY-64-01] The transmission of Second World War Trauma across generations

*Eugen Koh (University of Melbourne(Australia))

Keywords:

War,Cultural trauma,generations

Even though 80 years and three generations have passed since the end of the Second World War, the long-term effects of that war remain. In individuals, the psychological effects of the trauma of one generation affect the development of their children and grandchildren – we call this phenomenon transgenerational trauma. In groups and society, the impacts are embedded in their social, collective or shared consciousness - which is their culture – causing cultural trauma.Cultural trauma can be defined as the distortion or destruction to a culture resulting from widely shared experiences that cannot or have not been processed. These changes affect the behaviour of individuals and large groups, including social institutions and processes, and government policies and operations. The impact of cultural trauma on a country can continue for generations if it remains unexamined and unaddressed.This presentation highlights the potential long-term impacts of the war through cultural trauma and discusses a unique project to address them in Japan, through a series of interdisciplinary symposia involving over a thousand participants over 7 years, and the subsequent formation of the Japanese Society for Interdisciplinary Studies on the Long-Term Effects of War (J-SISLEW).