SURVIVING TRAUMA: NIYI OSUNDARE’S EXPERIENCE IN CITY WITHOUT PEOPLE

Abstract

This paper examines the representation of trauma in selected poems from City without People, a poetry collection by the Nigerian poet-scholar, Niyi Osundare. Drawing on trauma theory, the study explores how Osundare deploys poetry as a therapeutic medium for working through the trauma engendered by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The findings reveal that, contrary to the assumptions advanced by some trauma theorists who argue that traumatic experiences are inherently amnesic and unspeakable, Osundare’s lived experiences as presented in the collection demonstrate the possibility of remembering and articulating trauma.  The study further establishes a connection between the postmemory of slavery and the collective trauma of the Katrina experience within the Black community, showing that such memories can be engaged in a multidirectional manner. The research further demonstrates that the poetry collection offers a quintessential illustration of expressive writing deployed as scriptotherapy.