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Restorying Trauma: Child Sexual Abuse

Illustrations: Marley Theobald

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Stories, Storytellers, and Storytelling

Abstract

This chapter explores how narratives of trauma can represent a central framework to understand and respond to sexual violence in the United Kingdom. Using written and visual narratives, it critically examines trauma experienced by adult victims/survivors of child sexual abuse through the prism of recovery. In so doing, it explores the complex and precarious relationship between story, storyteller and storytelling. The chapter highlights the tensions which frame how and whether a story can be told or heard, contributing towards valuing certain victim/survivor experiences and silencing those whose stories do not fit. Ultimately, it seems, to facilitate a move beyond the experiences of trauma, there is a salient need to redefine the boundaries of storytelling so as to accommodate the complexity and multiplicity of the experiences themselves.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Suffolk, Ipswich, UK

    Aisha Howells

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  1. Aisha Howells
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Correspondence to Aisha Howells .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Suffolk, Ipswich, UK

    Tom Vine

  2. University of Suffolk, Ipswich, UK

    Sarah Richards

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Howells, A. (2022). Restorying Trauma: Child Sexual Abuse. In: Vine, T., Richards, S. (eds) Stories, Storytellers, and Storytelling. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07234-5_10

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