Shifting identities of the victims of terrorism and camorra

This chapter refers to a cultural definition of shame. By referring to trauma theories, it argues that – as in the case of trauma – there is always a gap between the emotion of shame and the event that provoked it. The event provokes a gap, a break in the relation between the individual and the community and its consequence is that the social actor will no longer consider him/herself the way they were before. The shame has to do with the fact that suddenly one feels alone, divided from the rest of the community to which s/he feels to belong. Exactly in this gap the victim can find the individual and social resources to transform the shame in something else. This definition of shame is applied to the data collected in the pieces of research done by the author on Italian victims of terrorist attacks and especially in a research on a terrorist attack organized by “camorra” (Val di Sambro railway bombing - December 23, 1984). This case is very peculiar in relation to the emotion of shame, because the victims of terrorist attacks should be “immune to” any social process of “blaming”. The identity of such a victim is strongly marked by the fact that the terrorist attack is an event that might occur to everyone. “It could be me” is the main argument protecting those victims from any sense of shame. However, it will be shown how, to what extent and under what circumstances the emotion of shame can emerge over time also for the victims of terrorism. The chapter will explore some of the reasons why this walk of the victims from an initial sense of fame to the emotion of shame is likely to occur.