Trauma: A Cultural Look on Bloody Sunday

Something that is not often mentioned, but often occurs in traumatic events is the emotional repercussions of a violent affair. Graham Dawson in “Trauma Place and the Politics of Memory: Bloody Sunday, Derry, 1972-2004.” Here, Dawson’s intent is laid out in three parts: the investigation of the cultural and historical context of the landscape, the analysis of the political repercussions Bloody Sunday had on the nationalist community, and the exploration of psychological trauma Bloody Sunday caused individuals. His argument, which is never specifically stated, reveals itself to be the assertion that cultural community, political pressure, and especially the upsurge of violence later experienced in the Troubles created a severe form of trauma for the surviving victims of Bloody Sunday which has yet to heal.

The town the Bloody Sunday occurred in was, in itself, a place that had long been in political contestation.  The Protestant unionists referred to it as Londonderry, effectively showing its willing affiliation with Great Britain, while the Catholic nationalists saw it as simply Derry (Dawson 157). The Catholics in the area, though a majority in Derry, experienced massive discrimination from the Protestant community, who controlled the economic, political, and social affairs. The  Bogside, the area of which Bloody Sunday took place, was a ghetto of sorts delegated to the Catholic community. This segregation and repression was only intensified by the British military troops, who had been present in the Bogside since 1970 (Dawson 160).

The political aftermath of Bloody Sunday, Dawson describes as one that led to an increased participation in political commemoration. Involvement in the IRA was certainly a primary outcome of Bloody Sunday; “It stimulated recruitment to the IRA, escalating and prolonging the war” (Dawson 163). The investigation conducted by British figures also caused a political uproar, with many nationalists claiming that the Widgery Tribunal was a ‘whitewash’ which exonerated British soldiers from any wrongdoing (163). But aside from the violent aspect of politics, Bloody Sunday also gave way to peaceful methods of commemoration. The Bloody Sunday Initiative, a group formed by the relatives of Bloody Sunday victims, is such a group. According to Dawson, their “focus is the future; helping to work for British withdrawal on to build an independent, pluralistic and democratic Ireland, based on principles of ‘non-violent action’ and the rejection of bigotry and sectarianism” (166).

This leaves Dawson’s main argument, the assertion that the trauma received by victims and their relatives had severe psychological repercussions. He associates it with PTSD, and stresses that location and politics play their part in this emotional trauma. In concerns to location, “personal life stories reveal the often deeply-troubled and unresolved relation to the specific places where their relatives were shot and died.” Aside from the fact that the Bogside area still holds haunting symptoms for the still-living victims, the Widgery report also held a significant role in their trauma. “Survivors and relatives of the dad have had to live the lie in their everyday lives, it compounded the original trauma of violence and loss, prolonging its effects and blocking psychic recovery” (163). Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein (IRA) president proclaimed that “’Widgery was a lie and Bloody Sunday remains pertinent today because it is an open wound’” (Dawson 171).

This article was written in 2004, when the Saville Inquiry was still in process. However, Dawson makes critical remarks pertaining to the (then) ongoing report: “Even were Saville to provide a vindication of the dead, there is no guarantee of beneficial psychic effects for the living survivors” (174). He ends with leaving the argument open to whether these victims can ever recover from the trauma they have experienced for decades; can “the places of atrocity and trauma” and the people who carry that inside them “ever really be exorcized of their ghosts" (Dawson 178). I want to explore this further and see if any answer can be gleaned since the Saville Inquiry has now been released for three years now. 

Dawson, Graham. “Trauma, Place and the Politics of Memory: Bloody Sunday, Derry, 1972-2004.” History Workshop Journal, no. 3 (2005): 151 – 178.