Liminal Childhood: Survival and Working-Through the Trauma of Syrian War in A Land of Permanent Goodbyes

• Main Authors: Priyadarshini, Arya, Sigroha, Suman
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: liminality; survival; Syria; trauma; war; young adults
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss45/6
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Set amidst the tragedy of Syrian war and the gruesome reality of the refugee crisis that followed, A Land of Permanent Goodbyes (2018) by Atia Abawi is a tale of finding hope within the darkness through the liminal state of survival. This essay explores forms of coping mechanisms present in contemporary children’s and young adult trauma narratives through the lens of object- relation theory in psychoanalysis to expand the understanding of the process of working- through trauma and loss. This study, rooted in the survival strategies adopted by children and adolescents trapped in the war in the Middle East, incorporates insights on trauma and survival from non-Western countries. Despite the harm inflicted by the local environment during the war, this article highlights that the distressed child forms a relation with local objects, which eventually helps him or her to endure the harrowing experience.