Bolotnikov A.S. Trauma and Blurring the Boundaries of Corporeality: Towards a Posthumanistic Theory of PTSD
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lp.jvolsu.2026.1.9
Alexander S. Bolotnikov
Postgraduate Student, Assistant Lecturer, Department of General Philosophy, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kremlevskaya St, 18, 420008 Kazan, Russian Federation
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https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5221-4556
Abstract. The article represents a comprehensive philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), carried out within the framework of critical posthumanism methodology. The research proposes a purposeful departure from the traditional humanistic paradigm, which interprets trauma as a purely internal catastrophe befalling an autonomous and holistic subject. The author substantiates a conceptual turn, considering PTSD as a key event that reveals the ontological interconnectedness, hybridity, and processuality of modern experience. The theoretical framework of the research is built on a synthesis of philosophical approaches: concepts of nomadic subjectivity and posthuman corporeality by Rosi Braidotti, phenomenological analysis of the “flesh” by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, as well as contemporary trauma theories by Cathy Caruth and A. Carter. The work consistently proves that traumatic experience leads to a radical disintegration not only of psychic structures but also of fundamental categories of human existence – corporeality, temporality, and identity – exposing their nonlinear and unstable character. Using the material of Kathryn Bigelow’s film “The Hurt Locker,” a detailed analysis is conducted of how PTSD manifests itself in the form of a permanent crisis of stability. The body and consciousness of the subject, embodied in the image of sapper William James, are analyzed as an unfinished process of becoming, existing in a mode of constant formation of hybrid assemblages with the technological environment. The special contribution of the article lies in the development of an original interpretation of nomadic subjectivity, which in the context of trauma is rethought not as an embodiment of freedom, but as a forced and rigid attachment to the traumatic experience of boundlessness. In conclusion, a finding is formulated that the posthumanistic approach allows for a reconceptualization of PTSD, transforming its status from an individual psychopathology into an existential-ontological mode of being, which generates a specific form of knowledge – “cripistemology,” rooted in the experience of norm violation and the experiencing of ontological instability.
Key words: nomadic subject, trauma, corporeality, posthumanism, PTSD, cripistemology.
Citation. Bolotnikov A.S. Trauma and Blurring the Boundaries of Corporeality: Towards a Posthumanistic Theory of PTSD. Logos et Praxis, 2026, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 92-97. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lp.jvolsu.2026.1.9
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