Transgenerational Transmissions and Chosen Traumas: An Aspect of Large-Group Identity

Abstract

Large-group (ethnic, national, religious) identity is defined as the subjective experience of thousands or millions of people who are linked by a persistent sense of sameness while also sharing numerous characteristics with others in foreign groups. The main task that members of a large group share is to maintain, protect, and repair their group identity. A `chosen trauma' is one component of this identity. The term `chosen trauma' refers to the shared mental representation of a massive trauma that the group's ancestors suffered at the hand of an enemy. When a large group regresses, its chosen trauma is reactivated in order to support the group's threatened identity. This reactivation may have dramatic and destructive consequences.