Shock waves in Stigmata by PA Perry: trauma legacy

Focusing on Stigmata, Phillys Alesia Perry's neo slave narrative, this article shows how the shock effects of slavery have been affecting the black women of the same family for over a hundred years, as memory re-emerges on the very body of the female protagonist, which appears as the site of persisting trauma. As it analyses the way the original trauma is inscribed within the intimate territory, it also considers the creative means which could permit to break the infernal circle of an eternal post-traumatic repetition. Reproduced by permission of Bibliothèque de Sciences Po