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This is a Literature Review study (also classified as: Observational).

September 10, 2025

My Mother, Myself: Reading Trauma Recovery as Girlhood Development in Rhymes for Young Ghouls and La teta asustada

Key Points

The films explore healing from intergenerational trauma in indigenous girls, while also addressing broader anti-indigenous violence narratives.
Both Rhymes for Young Ghouls and La teta asustada highlight legacies of trauma, using mothers' corpses as pivotal symbols in recovery.
Drawing on indigenous feminist scholarship and object relations theory, the analysis connects girlhood development with recovery from trauma.
The findings emphasize the importance of these films for both indigenous and non-indigenous audiences, suggesting wider cultural relevance.

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article analyzes Rhymes for Young Ghouls (Jeff Barnaby, 2013) and La teta asustada ( The Milk of Sorrow , Claudia Llosa, 2009) — two coming-of-age films featuring girls whose mothers’ corpses provide opportunities to confront legacies of anti-Indigenous violence, heal from intergenerational trauma, and pursue livable Indigenous futures. It uses Indigenous feminist scholarship, existential phenomenology, and a decolonial critique of object relations theory to argue that these films must also be read for the potential parallel development they offer inscribed non-Indigenous spectators.

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