Cover not available
Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 24:2 (2014) ► pp.259–280

Visual narrative and trauma recovery

| Northwestern University

Visual representations are powerful vehicles for the transmission of collective memory and the processing of traumatic events (Zelizer, 1998). But how do images create narrative, particularly in context of a traumatic past? This paper analyzes two visual narratives created by national truth commissions in Guatemala and Peru. Drawing from various theories of visual narrative and visual grammar, mainly Eisner (1985), McCloud (1993), Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), and Cohn (2013), this paper analyzes how each project used visuals — photography and illustrations — to create the building blocks of narrative: characters, setting, and plot. It compares and contrasts the two projects in terms of how they depict the main actors in the conflicts, as well as the main events and the overall visual narrative structure. Finally, this paper discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of each medium as a post-traumatic tool.

Keywords: conflict resolution, truth commissions, photography, visual narrative, trauma, drawing
Published online: 24 November 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.24.2.05hoe
References
Bamberg, M
(2012) Why narrative? Narrative Inquiry, 22(1), 202–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barthes, R
(1977) Image, music, text. New York: Hill and Wang.Google Scholar
Caruth, C
(1996) Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative, and history. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Chute, H.L
(2010) Graphic women: Life narrative and contemporary comics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Cohn, N
(2013) Visual narrative structure. Cognitive Science, 37(3), 413–452. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cole, C.M
(2009) Performing South Africa’s truth commission: Stages of transition. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Comisión de Verdad y Reconciliación
(2003) Informe final. Lima. Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Eisner, W
(1985) Comics and sequential art. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press.Google Scholar
Gareau, F.H
(2004) State terrorism and the United States: From counterinsurgency to the War on Terrorism. London, UK: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Hariman, R., & Lucaites, J.L
(2008) Public identity and collective memory in U. S. iconic photography. In L. Olson, C. Finnegan & D. Hope (Eds.), Visual rhetoric: A reader in communication and American culture (pp. 175–198). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Harper, D
(2002) Talking about pictures: A case for photo elicitation. Visual Studies, 17(1), 13–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harrison, B
(2002) Photographic visions and narrative inquiry. Narrative Inquiry, 12(1), 87–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hayner, P.B
(2010) Unspeakable truths: Transitional justice and the challenge of truth commissions (2nd ed.). Hoboken: Taylor & Francis. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hunt, N
(1999) All quiet on the western front and understanding of psychological trauma. Narrative Inquiry, 9(1), 207–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jonas, S
(2000) Of centaurs and doves: Guatemala’s peace process. Westview Press.Google Scholar
Kress, G., & Leeuwen, T. van
(2006) Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Linfield, S
(2010) The cruel radiance: Photography and political violence. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCloud, S
(1993) Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York, NY: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Mohanna, M., & Chappell, N
(2007, June 18). Personal interview.
Mullins, L
(2012, May 15). Kate Doyle: Documenting Latin America’s painful past. The World. Public Radio International. Retrieved from [URL]
Poole, D
(1992) Peru: Time of fear. London, UK: Latin America Bureau.Google Scholar
Proyecto Interdiocesano Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica
(2000) Memoria, verdad y esperanza: Versión popularizada del informe REMHI, Guatemala, nunca más.Google Scholar
Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica
(1998) Guatemala: Nunca más. February 24, 2012, Retrieved from [URL]
Riessman, C.K
(2008) Narrative methods for the human sciences. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Rotella, S., & Arana, A
(2012, May 25). Finding Oscar: Massacre, memory and justice in Guatemala. ProPublica. Retrieved from [URL]
Schlesinger, S., & Kinzer, S
(2005) Bitter fruit: The story of the American coup in Guatemala (Revised and expanded.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shay, J
(1995) Achilles in Vietnam: Combat trauma and the undoing of character. Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Shuman, A
(2005) Other people’s stories: Entitlement claims and the critique of empathy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
(2006) Entitlement and empathy in personal narrative. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 148–155. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sontag, S
(2004) Regarding the pain of others. London ; New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Tomuschat, C
(2001) Clarification Commission in Guatemala. Human Rights Quarterly, 23(2), 233–258. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wiebelhaus-Brahm, E
(2010) Truth commissions and transitional societies: The impact on human rights and democracy. London ; New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zeitlin, F.I
(1985) Playing the other: Theater, theatricality, and the feminine in Greek drama. Representations, 111, 63–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zelizer, B
(1998) Remembering to forget: Holocaust memory through the camera’s eye. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(2010) About to die: How news images move the public. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Appleton, Catherine
2021. The theory-practice interplay in creating a graphic memoir about the trauma of forced migration. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 12:5 ► pp. 535 ff. DOI logo
Crawford, Rebekah Perkins
2023. Communicating Through and Around Trauma: Understanding the Limitations to Narrative and Resilience. Health Communication ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
lisahunter
2017. If You See What I Mean? Visual Narratives – Stories Told Through, With And By Visual Images. In Narrative Research in Practice, ► pp. 89 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.