SYSTEMIC ISSUES OF TRAUMA (SP-2152)
(01/31/2022-05/20/2022)
Course Memo
Survivors of trauma can be caught in a relentless spiral in which distress in social relationships exacerbate trauma symptoms, and trauma symptoms exacerbate disconnected social relationships. This spiral then takes on a life of its own, becoming self-reinforcing. The communal resources that could be an aid for healing, are instead an avenue of danger. The goal for trauma care, therefore is not only to lessen the distress in survivors' lives, but also to create secure human resources that promote active and optimal adaptation to a world that contains distress.
Using race as the central category for systemic issues that exacerbate collective trauma and collective memories of trauma, we will examine the traumatic reality of racism, sexism and classicism in social systems. The hope is that we will uncover the roots of racial, gender, and class social injustices, such that social realities that create and reinforce collective trauma may be identified and eliminated and social connections with others as essential for the survival and stability of the collective human condition constructed. We will use arts, theology, history and philosophy to reflect on our own healing from and participation in racism, its interlocking social constructions, and its traumatizing social effects in order to attend to grief, make meaning, create 'new normals,' and promote reorganization within multi-system collaborations in ways that are healthy for interlocking organizational systems and for all who live within them. The course is PASS/FAIL only.