University of Tehran Published jointly with Iranian World Studies Association Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies 2588-3119 9 3 2025 07 01 Silencing Trauma: Depoliticization and the Concealment of the Political in American Veterans’ Fictional Narratives of the Korean and Vietnam Wars 433 475 102448 10.22059/wsps.2025.392256.1505 EN Sara Nazockdast Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Selma Rezvanjoo PhD Candidate of English Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Seyed Mohammad Marandi Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2025 03 17 Trauma studies mainly focus on the psychological mechanisms of trauma and the various ways witnesses and victims represent it. But recent approaches in the field emphasize that despite doubts about the accuracy of traumatic memories, trauma narratives could point to the socio-political issues involved because they reflect the dominant societal discourses, and connect the text to history and ideology. As such, literary narratives can potentially depict traumatic events as non-political experiences, obscure their connections to power dynamics, and “depoliticize” these events. As a result, power structures are validated, and challenges to the root causes and consequences of trauma are prevented. To identify the patterns and possibilities of depoliticization in war narratives, this article examines four nationally acclaimed literary works about the Korean and Vietnam wars, written by American veterans. Employing a combination of theoretical frameworks from trauma studies alongside Norman Fairclough and Ruth Wodak’s models in critical discourse analysis, the research identified and categorized instances of depoliticization to show how they reflect or conceal broader historical and sociopolitical contexts. The results reveal that although these narratives appear to be anti-war, they conform to the dominant discourses of their time by downplaying, manipulating, or omitting political references—i.e., through depoliticization of the narrative. Given that depoliticized trauma narratives can diminish or obscure political responsibility, this study opens up extensive prospects for deeper examination of the relationship between the representation of trauma and political power. Ultimately, the findings emphasize the importance of a critical approach to analyzing trauma narratives and war literature. https://wsps.ut.ac.ir/article_102448_d7671d08ce4168da31609ca418ebb496.pdf