Scars and Wounds

Reviews / Votes

"Scars and Wounds is an outstanding contribution to an understanding of the causes and effects of trauma. With case studies including films made in Algeria, Bosnia, Rwanda, Chile and the USA, documentaries and fictional narratives, mainstream and low-budget productions, it perfectly balances historical research with discussion of the means filmmakers use to give shape to events that tear the tissue of individual and collective bodies. It demonstrates that trauma, even if resulting from natural disasters, is always imbricated with politics, including class and gender politics." (Prof. Ewa Mazierska, Professor of Contemporary Cinema, School of Humanities and Social Sciences , UCLAN, UK)

"Scars and Wounds is essential reading for those interested in trauma and cinema. Its highly innovative approach and consistently lucid, nuanced analysis entails a somatic sensibility that explores trauma as an ever-present scar, correlatingthe physical process of wounding and scarring with the process of cinematic representation. Examining filmic depictions framed by a range of traumatic events, such as those arising from the Algerian civil war, the Bosnian war, atrocities in Rwanda, and Hurricane Katrina, through to Argentina's last military dictatorship, this collection of outstanding essays encompasses a broad geographical scope that opens up new perspectives on Michael Rothberg's concept of multidirectional memory. The anthology, skilfully brought together by Amit Thakkar and Nick Hodgin, makes a significant, timely and path-breaking contribution to scholarship on trauma and cinema." (Fran Pheasant-Kelly, Reader in Screen Studies, University of Wolverhampton, UK)