Startseite Transgenerational Trauma, Belated Witnessing, and Resilience in Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone
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Transgenerational Trauma, Belated Witnessing, and Resilience in Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone

  • Sanra Reji EMAIL logo und Aparna Nandha
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 5. November 2025
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Abstract

This article analyzes the prolific African American writer Jacqueline Woodson’s novel Red at the Bone (2019) from a position informed by transgenerational trauma and postmemory. While the novel outlines the story of two Black families united by a teenage pregnancy, it harbors a legacy of loss metastasized and transmuted among the protagonists. Employing the theoretical framework of Michael G. Levine’s belated witnessing, the paper explicates childhood as a probable site of belated witnessing. He argues that belated witnessing occurs in the liminal space where stories are transmitted to the witness. Building on Levine’s theory, the article further problematizes young adulthood as a liminal space negotiating the complex process of witnessing. By analyzing the protagonists’ reluctance to witness and their belated acceptance of the traumatic past, the paper concludes by commenting on resilience and reconciliation as a positive outcome of adversity.

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Published Online: 2025-11-05
Published in Print: 2025-11-04

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 7.11.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/arcadia-2025-2016/html?lang=de
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