This thesis looks at the collective memory of trauma and its affect on European integration. It does so by analysing two migrant groups from the first decade after WW2, ethnic minorities surviving...Show moreThis thesis looks at the collective memory of trauma and its affect on European integration. It does so by analysing two migrant groups from the first decade after WW2, ethnic minorities surviving the Holocaust, and displaced German migrants reintegrating into West Germany, and how their experience influenced European integration. I discuss trauma theory, with reference to these two cases, to show its significance in relation to the integration of migrants into European multicultural society, providing further scope for analysis in academia. After a section on global perspectives of migration and multiculturalism, this thesis argues that trauma is a fundamental part of the migrant identity, which influences their integration into their new society. As European multiculturalism began to be rethought in Germany after WW2, trauma and memory of the war was the main cultural similarity between these two cases of migrants and local Germans, which began to reform integration perspective. This perspective of collective trauma and the socio-economic gains migrants brought to the economy would mark these reforms in European integration. This research can offer a niche in the debate on modern day political issues, for example populism and anti-globalisation rhetoric, as European states share different experiences on migrant trauma, and contrasting views on integration as a result of their multicultural perspective.Show less
This thesis examined Maxine Hong Kingston's three works on Chinese Diaspora life in American, namely The Woman Warrior, China Men, and Tripmaster Monkey. It demonstrates the individual trauma and...Show moreThis thesis examined Maxine Hong Kingston's three works on Chinese Diaspora life in American, namely The Woman Warrior, China Men, and Tripmaster Monkey. It demonstrates the individual trauma and collective traumas Chinese American immigrants endures and also examines the strategies to fight against victimization and the differences between different groups in fighting their trauma. The three works also serve as Kingston's working through her own personal trauma to establish her a mature Chinese American Identity.Show less
The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate how narration could be used as a way to reconstruct the identity, based on the premise that remembering is a condition of forgetting. This is...Show moreThe objective of this thesis is to demonstrate how narration could be used as a way to reconstruct the identity, based on the premise that remembering is a condition of forgetting. This is illustrated through the analyse of the book of Argentinian writer Laura Alcoba, La Casa de los Conejos.Show less
