In seiner Monographie Transmitted Wounds. Media and the Mediation of Trauma entwickelt Amit Pinchevski die These, dass moderne Massenmedien Trauma sowohl übertragen als auch tilgen können und plädiert dafür, ‚Trauma‘ als moralische Kategorie zu verstehen. Die Publikation verbindet Gedächtnisstudien, medientheoretische Erkenntnisse und Technikgeschichte und streift klinische und psychologische Beiträge zum Begriff ‚Trauma‘. Damit verknüpft Pinchevski verschiedene Perspektiven auf Gewalt und Technik und leistet einen originellen und inspirierenden Beitrag zu diesen Disziplinen.In his monograph, Transmitted Wounds. Media and the Mediation of Trauma, Amit Pinchevski develops the thesis that modern mass media can transmit and obliterate trauma and pleads for using ‘trauma’ as a moral category. His work interlinks memory, communication and technology studies and touches upon clinical and psychological contributions to notions of ‘trauma.’ Combining numerous views on the echoes of violence and technology, Pinchevski contributes in an inventive and inspirational way to those disciplines.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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Laumer, Angelika

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Journals an der JLU Gießen (Justus-Liebig Universität)

KULT_online. Review Journal for the Study of Culturejournals.ub.uni-giessen.de/kult-online(ISSN 1868-2855)Issue 65 (May 2022)On VisitationsAngelika LaumerInternational Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (Giessen) / University of BonnAngelika.laumer@ukbonn.deAbstract:In  his  monograph,  Transmitted  Wounds:  Media  and  the Mediation of  Trauma,  Amit Pinchevski develops the thesis that modern mass media can transmit and obliterate trauma and pleads for using ‘trauma’ as a moral category. His work interlinks memory,  communication and technology  studies  and touches  upon clinical  and  psychological contributions  to  notions  of  ‘trauma.’  Combining  numerous  views  on  the  echoes  of violence and technology, Pinchevski contributes in an inventive and inspirational way into those disciplines.Über HeimsuchungenGerman Abstract:In  seiner  Monographie  Transmitted  Wounds:  Media  and  the  Mediation  of  Trauma entwickelt  Amit  Pinchevski  die  These,  dass  moderne Massenmedien Trauma sowohl übertragen als auch tilgen können und plädiert dafür, ‚Trauma‘ als moralische Kategorie zu  verstehen.  Die  Publikation  verbindet  Gedächtnisstudien,  medientheoretische Erkenntnisse und Technikgeschichte und streift klinische und psychologische Beiträge zum Begriff ‚Trauma‘. Damit verknüpft Pinchevski verschiedene Perspektiven auf Gewalt und  Technik  und  leistet  einen  originellen  und  inspirierenden  Beitrag  zu  diesen Disziplinen.How to cite:Laumer, Angelika: “On Visitations [Review of: Pinchevski, Amit: Transmitted Wounds: Media and the Mediation of Trauma, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.].”  In: KULT_online 65 (2022).DOI: https://doi.org/10.22029/ko.2022.1289Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 InternationalKULT_online. Review Journal for the Study of Culture65 / 2022journals.ub.uni-giessen.de/kult-onlineOn VisitationsAngelika LaumerInternational Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (Giessen) / University of BonnPinchevski, Amit. Transmitted Wounds. Media and the Mediation of Trauma, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. 186 pages, 25,23 Euro. ISBN: 978-0-19-760079-5.Netflix’s new fictional show “Archive 81” (Rebecca Sonnenshine, Netflix, 2022) centers on the medium of videotapes and makes clear that the uncanny not only manifests in stories and symbols, it also infects the medium’s material, it manifests in technology such as videotapes — thus showing that technology and the uncanny are interwoven. The show’s topic reminded me of what Amit Pinchevski tackles in an intellectual way in his book  Transmitted Wounds. Combining  memory,  media  and  technology  studies  and  touching  upon psychological  and clinical notions of ‘trauma’ with regard to the Shoah and war in broader terms, Pinchevski’s leading question is not so much if but how trauma is induced by listening to descriptions of  violence, watching atrocities or even engaging with echoes of violence on the radio and on screen. Throughout five chapters, he develops his main thesis that traumatization does not have to be a consequence of a direct experience but can be mediated and modified through mass  communication,  and  that  trauma  can  be  essentially  formed  and  obliterated  by technology. Although the title of his study carries the term ‘wounds’ he rather works on the term ‘trauma.’Pinchevski assembles his book around different forms of modern and postmodern media: In the first,  second and fourth chapter,  he discusses various manifestations of  Shoah-related trauma  that  are  revealed  in  recorded  and  retrieved  oral  testimonies.  The  third  chapter revolves  around another  experience  that  might  induce trauma:  Watching  TV  coverage  of disasters or mass violence, or what soldiers experience when operating a drone and viewing it attack as well as the drone strikes’ consequences. The final chapter describes attempts to heal trauma through media. - 1 - KULT_online. Review Journal for the Study of Culture65 / 2022journals.ub.uni-giessen.de/kult-onlineIn his introduction, Pinchevski starts with making a point for combining knowledge about clinical trauma and memory with technology and mass media. He underlines the semantic relationship between psychological and technological terms when describing a trauma: We talk about ‘flashbacks,’ ‘snapshots,’ ‘images,’ ‘imprints’ that are ‘burnt in’ and ‘engraved.’ He spots a “direct and causal relation between the event and its impression” (p.  7).  The first chapter is dedicated to radio-casted trauma, namely the transmission of the Eichmann trial in 1961  in  Israel.  Pinchevski  regards  the  radio  transmission  and  the  listening  to  the  Shoah survivors’  testimonies  as  a  “collective  séance”  (p.  40)  as  live  voices  without  perceivable bodies were talking about the absent mass murdered and could be heard in nearly every living room, interrupting daily routines. In chapter two, Pinchevski discusses trauma and videotaped testimonies using the example of the Fortunoff Video Archive of Holocaust Testimonies, with reference to one of the archive’s founders,  literary  studies  scholar  Lawrence  Langer  (Holocaust  Testimonies:  The Ruins  of  Memory. New Haven 1991), Pinchevski points out that video testimony allows a narration that “unfolds before our eyes and ears” (p. 53).  A question Pinchevski raises with reference to several authors is if there will be a “deep memory,” one that “tries to recall the Auschwitz self as it was then,” even if every survivor has disappeared (p. 54–55). According to him, “the audiovisual archive is the ultimate depository of deep memory” (p. 55). He concludes that the idea of the broken narrative frame is crucial for understanding the effect — and the agency — of the Fortunoff video testimonies. The broken, ruptured narrative and thus the manifestation of trauma was and is important when survivors tell their stories on tape and it might still be  important when recipients feel trepidation watching and listening to those video testimonies.  Pinchevski convincingly develops his concept of transmission (transmitting images as well as transmitting  trauma).  For  him,  transmission is  violent,  a  rupture  and  something is  being transmitted when narration is fractured (p. 58–61).In  chapter  three,  Pinchevski  moves  away  from  Shoah  testimonies  and  discusses  distant trauma: Clinical research indicates that one can “be traumatized by watching a catastrophic event  on  television”  (p.  75;  78–80).  To  further  follow  Pinchevski’s  thought,  it  would  be interesting  to  investigate  the  role  of  big  social  media  players’  (like  Facebook)  content - 2 - KULT_online. Review Journal for the Study of Culture65 / 2022journals.ub.uni-giessen.de/kult-onlinemoderators in (not) transmitting trauma as their sole assignment is to assess and delete cruel  content. In chapter four, Pinchevski tackles the famous New Dimensions in Testimony (NDT) created at University  of  Southern  California  and  the  Shoah  Foundation,  colloquially  called  ‘the hologram.’ The hologram of a survivor can reply immediately to questions from the audience.  While  breaking  the  (narrative  and  screen)  frame  is  key  to  transmitting  trauma,  NDT’s characteristic is absolute “framelessness,”(p. 102) as narrative splinters can be retrieved and rearranged easily. Thus, the database and the index have become preliminary to narration. The  hologram’s  answers  are  customized,  it  simply  replies  too  well,  without  hesitation, irritation or interruption. The absent (content; words not being said, silences; pauses; things that  cannot  be  put  into  words)  has  always been a  part  of  testimonies  (and  has  made it possible  to  transmit  something  beyond  language  and  gestures,  for  example  trauma). Consequently, trauma is, according to Pinchevski, obliterated in NDT. I agree with Steffi de Jong’s observation that in pointing this out, Pinchevski makes an important contribution to the discussion of the NDT which in German speaking countries often seems to be stalemated as the discussion is usually pessimistic and fails to name the conceptual difference between NDT and, for example, TV (cf. Steffi de Jong, Review of Pinchevski, Amit: Transmitted Wounds.  Media and the Mediation of Trauma. Oxford 2019, in: H-Soz-Kult 25.03.2020). In his final chapter, Pinchevski does not discuss the transmission of and receiving of a trauma but  rather  focuses  on  modifying  and  healing  trauma  with  Virtual  Reality  technology  by referring to experiments in which VR technology was used as a means for exposure therapy. He concludes that  this  is  yet  another,  not  necessarily  constructive,  aspect  of  fencing the trauma in: immersive media can trigger trauma as well as contribute to healing it. ‘Trauma’  is  one of  the concepts  Pinchevski  applies  throughout  the monograph.  However, ‘trauma,’ a term describing a material brain injury as well as a psychological condition, is an expression that is likely to become meaningless if it is applied one-to-one to collectives and cultures. In my view, ‘trauma’ is related to an individual subject, not to a collective (how a society communicates about traumas is a different question). Are there not any other terms or metaphors that describe the disturbing, a visitation, the uncanny, the perturbation, the pain? - 3 - KULT_online. Review Journal for the Study of Culture65 / 2022journals.ub.uni-giessen.de/kult-onlineConcluding, Pinchevski makes the point I find decisive: He pleads for taking trauma into the “realm of moral concern” and not leaving it only to “clinical consideration” (p. 145). He raises the question, what if none is traumatized anymore when we watch or hear about atrocities  (cf. p. 144–145)? He rightly points out that ‘trauma’ requires an appropriate translation into cultural  studies  and  philosophy  —  or  another  term  is  needed  when  we  analyze  mental  perturbances in societies.All in all, the book is a very interesting read for educators, scholars of the above mentioned disciplines and also for journalists and filmmakers that are interested in media and cultural theory. Pinchevski’s work opens a new dimension (reference to the USC New Dimensions in  Testimony not intended) for understanding the entanglement of culture, technology and the subject. He also contributes to the discussion of how to mediate and remember the Shoah and large-scale atrocities in general. Pinchevski introduces the reader to numerous theoretical concepts  such  as  the  ‘uncanny  valley’  by  Masahiro  Mori  (“The  Uncanny  Valley,”  in  IEEE  Robotics & Automation Magazine 19 (2), 2012, p. 98–100), ‘framelessness’ by Mark Andrejevic (“‘Framelessness’ or the Cultural Logic of Big Data,” in Mobile and Ubiquitous Media: Critical  and International Perspectives. Eds. Michael Daubs and Vincent Manzerolle, New York 2018, p. 251–266), ‘prosthetic memory’ by Alison Landsberg (Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation  of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York 2004), ‘deep memory’ by Charlotte  Delbo  (Days  and  Memory.  Evanston  1991)  and  the  ‘paradigm of  irony’  by  Lilie Chouliaraki (The Ironic Spectator: Solidarity in the Age of Post-humanitarianism. Oxford 2013). He also refers to Friedrich Kittler’s notion that modern mass communication technology being used in civil  life  is  a  byproduct  of  technology  developed  for  warfare  that  actually  drives technological  progress and modern history (Discourse Networks 1800/1900. Redwood City 1990  and  Gramophone,  Film,  Typewriter.  Redwood  City  1999).  Following  Pinchevski’s arguments in assembling those numerous concepts is a great inspiration. - 4 - 

On Visitations

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On Visitations

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