ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the intersections between the study of memory and trauma with a particular focus on gendered insecurity. It aims to introduce K. Barry's concept of expendability to J. Butler's theorization of grievable lives as a way to frame the normalization of certain traumatic experiences through commemoration. In exploring the links between trauma, memory, and gendered insecurity, the chapter looks to read gender into practices of memorization of traumatic events which may not be initially understood to be defined by gendered insecurity, such as commemoration of the Second World War. It suggests that the international literature on trauma and memory has not systematically accounted for gendered insecurity as a site of trauma, and the literature on gendered insecurity has not engaged deeply with practices of memorization and trauma. The chapter concludes with considering ways in which scholarship on memory and trauma could be used to enhance recent feminist debates on gendered insecurity.
