Echoes of the Forgotten: Expressions of Historical Trauma and Intergenerational Transmission in Caryl Phillips’s Higher Ground

Abstract

This research article explores the devastating psychological and sociological impacts of systemic oppression as depicted in Caryl Phillips’s novel Higher Ground. By synthesising contemporary research on historical trauma, intergenerational transmission, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS), and Holocaust survivor psychopathology, this paper analyses how Phillips’s characters embody the legacy of mass trauma. The novel connects three distinct narratives: an African collaborator during the slave trade, a Black prisoner in solitary confinement in the United States, and a Jewish woman haunted by the Polish ghettos, to illustrate the universal and enduring nature of trauma. Through the lens of theorists such as Michelle M. Sotero, Joy DeGruy, and Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, the researcher demonstrates that historical trauma is not merely a past event but an ongoing cycle of subjugation that strips individuals of their humanity and requires profound truth-telling and culturally sensitive interventions for healing.