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

Vamik D. Volkan

Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction, University of Virginia

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.

Key Words: chosen trauma • identity • individual identity • large-group identity • personality organization

Group Analysis, Vol. 34, No. 1, 79-97 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/05333160122077730
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