Looking at the Cracks and Fragments: Ressentiment in the Narrative of Resilience

Resilience is a fundamental element in post-disaster recovery and development of states.However, beyond its prominence in state policies, resilience has increasingly been used as a part of a rhetorical ploy to conceal the lack or absence of political action.This narrative involving resilience has problematic implications on collective memory and recognition of the seriousness and extent of the tragic experience.To vividly illustrate true resilience and contrast it with its current depiction, this paper draws on the Japanese art of Kintsukuroi.In Kintsukuroi, the brokenness is not concealed but celebrated and garnished with gold.As embodied in this art, resilience is not the repression of a tragic memory or making light of the damage to move forward; rather it involves making the tragic experience meaningful by recognizing the extent of loss, embracing the truth, and remembering and integrating it into one's history and identity.This paper will discuss the Schelerian concept of ressentiment to explain the differences in the intentionality of resilience in the face of adversity, and it will contrast the 'narrative of resilience'-characterized by delusion and repression of memory-with the authentic process of overcoming that is present in true resilience.