Collective historical memory —a concept especially explored in the field of trauma sociology (Vamik Volkan, Marianne Hirsch, Carol Kidron) and human rights studies— refers to the social, legal, and symbolic processing of massive collective traumatic events: dictatorships, civil wars, genocides, occupations, slavery, colonialism.
Why it matters for the transgenerational field: when collective trauma is adequately processed —public trials, symbolic and material reparations, recognition of victims, monuments, records, education— its effects on subsequent generations are attenuated. When it is not processed —impunity, denialism, social silence, 'moving on' without elaboration— the trauma prolongs generationally with its own force.
Documented cases:
Argentina: the legal processing initiated in 2003 with the annulment of impunity laws has been an international reference. The trials of repressors, the work of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, the Espacios de Memoria (ESMA) are examples of collective elaboration.
South Africa: the post-Apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (Desmond Tutu) attempted to process the massive trauma of the segregationist regime.
Germany: the progressive processing of the Holocaust since the 1960s is one of the most extensively studied cases.
Spain: the opposite case. The Spanish 'transition' left the civil war and Francoism without legal processing or symbolic reparation. Four generations later, the collective trauma still resonates in political culture.
For Constelando: working with Spanish-speaking clients implies maintaining awareness of the national historical context. The family tree does not float in a vacuum: it is embedded in a collective history that also operates transgenerationally.
Bibliography
- Bloodlines — From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism — Vamik Volkan. Westview Press, 1997.
- Power and Disappearance — Concentration Camps in Argentina — Pilar Calveiro. Colihue, 1998.
These books are in the reference library that nourishes Constelando el Origen.
Related terms
Children of the disappeared (LATAM dictatorships)
Direct descendants of victims disappeared during Latin American dictatorships (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, etc.). They carry specific political-familial trauma documented by decades of research.
See entryVamik Volkan
Cypriot-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (1932-). Pioneer in the study of political transgenerational trauma and large-scale ethnic collective traumas.
See entryTransgenerational Trauma
Pain or trauma unprocessed by one generation that is transmitted—psychically, somatically, and, according to recent evidence, epigenetically—to subsequent generations.
See entryFamily Secret
Significant information within the system—abortion, suicide, infidelity, unacknowledged child—that the clan conceals or silences. This silence is transmitted as a burden to subsequent generations.
See entryA session thatnameswhat hurts
If you recognize this dynamic in your own story, a Family Constellation can reveal where it comes from and what movement can bring order to it. Daniela respectfully accompanies each case.
Sessions in Spanish only