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Trauma, time and information

Ronald E. Day (Department of Information and Library Science, Indiana University at Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA)

Journal of Documentation

ISSN: 0022-0418

Article publication date: 30 September 2021

Issue publication date: 3 January 2022

426

Abstract

Purpose

In this article the author would like to discuss information and the causal-temporal models as discussed in trauma theory and reports from trauma therapy. The article discusses two modes of temporality and the role of narrative explanations in informing the subject as to their past and present.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptual analysis.

Findings

Information in trauma has different meanings, partly as a result of different senses of temporality that make up explanations of trauma in trauma theory. One important meaning is that of explanation itself as a cause or a therapeutic cure for trauma.

Research limitations/implications

The research proposes that trauma and trauma theory need to be understood in terms of the role of explanation, with explanation being understood as persuasion. This follows the historical genealogy of trauma theory from its origins in hypnosis and psychoanalysis.

Originality/value

The article examines the possibility of unconscious information and its effects in forming psychological subjectivity.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and also Professors Jutta Haider, Melissa Adler and Jiangmei Wu, for their corrections and comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Citation

Day, R.E. (2022), "Trauma, time and information", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 78 No. 1, pp. 144-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2020-0189

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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