Download the thesis - South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault

the view that giving a testimony is crucial. According to Rothschild, part of the reason
is to move the memory from that part of brain in which the trauma memory is stored
so it may be integrated and processed in the same manner as other significant
memories, rendering it non-pathological. Felman asserts that because trauma memory
is not processed properly, real knowledge of the event cannot be located until the
story is told and the telling witnessed.
As Herman, Rothschild, Briere and Laub (in Felman and Laub) attest, this exchange
between the victim and the witness is not simply one of giving and receiving
information but an important engagement in listening and witnessing, as well as
speaking. They claim that it is in being heard, sometimes for the first time, that
trauma can be acknowledged and healing can begin. Herman’s assertion that truth-
telling has the restorative power of diminishing the gripping quality of trauma story is a
viewpoint reflected in Laub’s argument for the benefits of testimony and witness in
which he contends that no peace can be found in silence (Felman and Laub 79).
Most recognise that the telling process can be enormously challenging for the victim,
not only because of problems in verbalising the experience but because, in the full
acknowledgement of the trauma, a survivor is recognising that life can never be the
same again. Among the difficulties victims of childhood sexual abuse face in giving
testimony, particularly in adulthood, is as I described earlier, the absence of an
appropriate language in which to communicate. This can mean the victim is silenced
from her/himself. Culbertson refers to these memories as “fragmented” (178) and
“obey[ing] the logic of dreams” (170). For these victims, the act of telling the trauma
story is also about being their own witness. When it is not possible for the facts to be
fully exposed, what is important in a testimonial, then, is the attainment of
understanding, rather than the attainment of knowledge.
There are some, however, who believe healing from trauma is impossible. The writer
Primo Levi, himself a survivor of trauma, points to the impossibility of healing: “Once
again it must be observed, mournfully, that injury cannot be healed – it extends
through time” (12). He refers to philosopher Jean Amery who was tortured by the
Gestapo and said: “Anyone who has suffered torture will never be able to be at ease in
the world, the abomination of the annihilation is never extinguished. Faith in humanity
36