Can we heal wartime trauma without confronting the real causes of war?
In ‘Combat Trauma,’ Nadia Abu El-Haj examines the history and politics of PTSD
By Lyle Jeremy Rubin
December 13, 2022
“El-Haj is an academic, and her book amounts to a brave act of scholarship. But at its best moments, ‘Combat Trauma’ also musters a rhetorical force reminiscent of past public intellectuals like Hannah Arendt. Indeed, on multiple occasions El-Haj cites Arendt, who likewise pushed readers to think critically about war and empire. There is much in El-Haj’s argument that can be questioned, beginning with whether her anti-imperialist approach to healing could be put to work within the halls of power, an idea bound to trip over its own paradoxical preconditions. Likewise, it’s not entirely clear how her approach applies to veterans who don’t share her politics or her commitment to transformative activism. But as a prod for a citizenry whose unspoken politics is one of imperial amnesia or self-congratulation, El-Haj’s contribution couldn’t be more welcome. And for a nation that persists in seeing itself as the victim to justify its status as avenging victimizer, this book may be a necessary one.”
Combat Trauma: Imaginaries of War and Citizenship in post-9/11 America is available now from Verso.
