Four monuments and a funeral : established pathological mourning and collective memory in contemporary Hungary
Abstract
In this chapter, I suggest that the rhetoric of the Hungarian far right largely resembles what Vamik Volkan has called Established Pathological Mourning. In such circumstances, mourning becomes extended, whereby an individual – or in the present case, a collective – cannot adaptively work through the loss of a loved object. Mourning rituals are extended, whereby the repetition of mourning is an attempt to ‘keep alive’ the lost object. Rather than being a recognition of loss, these complicated mourning rituals forestall the work of living on without the lost object. I suggest that, similar to the re-grief therapy that Volkan promotes, collective cultural mourning may offer an adaptive way forward in working through the issues of loss and control for a larger segment of a society.
Citation
Murer , J S 2018 , Four monuments and a funeral : established pathological mourning and collective memory in contemporary Hungary . in S Krugger , K Figlio & B Richards (eds) , Fomenting political violence : fantasy, language, media, action . Studies in the psychosocial , Palgrave Macmillan , Cham , pp. 189-218 . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97505-4_10
Publication
Fomenting political violence
ISSN
2662-2629Type
Book item
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