ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces issues of epistemology under trauma. After a brief discussion of standard theories, I turn to the ways that knowing under/in trauma demonstrates a need to take more seriously some alternative theories. One thing that is clearly shown is that an epistemology of trauma is deeply embodied, as the effects of trauma on bodies change how survivors perceive and make sense of the world. Many survivors develop a doubled consciousness reflecting their forced participation two worlds which cannot be reconciled, in the “normal” world and the world of abuse/trauma. The requirement to keep the latter world secret increases epistemological difficulties for survivors; it sometimes becomes necessary to keep secrets from themselves as well as from others, creating further distortions in knowing. I consider the phenomenon of recovered memory and the questions it raises for the possibility even of knowing oneself. A related phenomenon is that of forgetting, which sometimes amounts to a deliberate ignorance that serves to facilitate some project or perceived need. I suggest that knowing is perhaps a more active concept than is generally believed, given that what we “know” of the world may be a strong reflection of what we need to believe in order to “go on” with our lives.
