Trauma, Communities, and the Politics of Suffering

Catalog description

Diagnoses and discussions of individual trauma have become all but ubiquitous. And yet collective trauma has not received the same level of public attention or disciplinary development. This course seeks to track the emergent field of Collective Trauma over the last several decades. We will explore the ways in which forms of social suffering and trauma have been theorized, examined, and "treated," while critically engaging the psychological, cultural, and political implications thereof. Collective or cultural trauma is thought to emanate from cultural upheaval and formidable challenges to the social and moral order. In class and in our readings, we will attempt to map key contours of this multivalent disciplinary field and its related practices. We will explore a variety of theoretical and empirical sources, as well as case studies on topics such as: Truth commissions and reparations; intergenerational and epigenetic trauma; the Covid pandemic and mental health crises among teens; atrocity and indigenous modes of healing; memorials and the politics of memory; activism and communal healing linked to gun violence; displacement and foced migration; PTSD and sexual violence; art-based therapeutic methods; racialized modes of structural violence; climate change and community trauma, to name a few. Some of the authors/artists/activists we will explore include Didier Fassin, Gloria Anzaldua, Yael Danieli, Paul Farmer, Ta Nehisi Coates, Stef Craps, Susan Sontag, Jefferey Alexander, Franz Fanon, Gloria Anzaldua, and Judith Butler.