Traumatized
Subjects
Mental Health, Violence,
and the Fabric of Europe
Between the Wars (1918-39)
Abstract
TRAUMA examines the transnational and transmedial circulation of discourses on mental health and violence in interwar Europe (1918–39). Situated at the intersection of medical history, legal history, and cultural studies, the project uses Britain and Italy as case studies to analyze how mentally traumatized World War I veterans who engaged in violent behavior were represented across different sources, including medical journals, trial transcripts, literary texts, newspaper reports, diaries, and memoirs. The aim is to show how these discourses fostered the consolidation of shared ideas and practices that shaped the social and cultural fabric of postwar Europe.
Medical and Legal Debates
Trace key debates in British and Italian medico-legal journals over the links between war trauma, brutalization, and violent behavior. Explore how doctors, psychiatrists, and legal authorities argued over the root causes and social consequences of postwar violence.
Media, Medicine, and Law
Explore the dynamic interplay between medical expertise, legal practice, and media communication in shaping public understanding of mental health and postwar veterans’ violence. Analyze how these three influential spheres together redefined cultural norms and social attitudes in the postwar era.
Cultural Narritives
Examine how literary works, diaries, and memoirs reimagined and circulated ideas of mental health and violence, shaping public perceptions and societal values. Discover how storytelling gave voice to experiences and anxieties otherwise marginalized in medical and legal discourse.
Principal Investigator
Stefano Serafini: The history of crime and deviance in modern and contemporary Europe
Author of Gothic Italy: Crime, Science, and Literature after Unification, 1861–1914 (University of Toronto Press, 2024) and Italian Crime Fiction Revisited: Authority, Detection, and the Supernatural, 1861–1941 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025); MSCA project on interwar mental health and violence in interwar Britain and Italy.
News & Events
News and events on mental health and violence in interwar Europe
Announcements about past and upcoming talks, conferences, workshops, seminars, and calls for papers related to the project.