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- Convenors:
-
William Tantam
(University of Bristol)
Shan-Estelle Brown (Rollins College)
Send message to Convenors
- Chairs:
-
Shan-Estelle Brown
(Rollins College)
William Tantam (University of Bristol)
- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Senate Room
- Sessions:
- Thursday 27 June, -, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Trauma has been conceptualised as taking people to the ‘edge of existence’ (Lester 2013). How might anthropologists engage with understandings of trauma, and what implications might this have for anthropological research and teaching? What might a trauma-informed anthropology look like?
Long Abstract:
Trauma manifests in different ways, for different people, and at different times, and has been conceptualised as taking people to the ‘edge of existence’ (Lester 2013). How might we recognise and engage with understandings of trauma, and what implications might this have for anthropological research and teaching?
This proposed panel will explore approaches to trauma-informed anthropology and consider key emerging discussions around trauma-informed approaches more broadly. Trauma-informed approaches acknowledge that particular topics, approaches, and teaching styles may reenact traumatic dynamics, and also recognise the impacts of trauma and how these reverberate across the lifecourse of survivors. These approaches also engage with understandings of the impacts of engaging with traumatic topics and learning materials including vicarious traumatisation and secondary traumatisation.
Anthropology has long since engaged with challenging topics, and indeed carries its own challenging histories, and researchers continue to generate key insights into the lived realities of trauma survivors. This panel aims to draw together insights for deploying these findings in research and teaching with particular attention to reducing possibilities of harm.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 27 June, 2024, -Eleni Kotsira (Alma Economics)
Paper long abstract:
At the heart of anthropological research one can find the intention to be continuously attuned to the needs of the communities engaged with, and flexibility to navigate fieldwork accordingly. As the climate crisis deepens, anthropologists will find themselves more and more often working with communities facing extreme weather events and climate-induced disasters, as a result of which priorities and decision-making for those communities will have to be refined, potentially impacting ongoing or even recently completed anthropological research.
This paper poses the question of how well prepared, or not, anthropologists in the field are to handle such circumstances, particularly when a disaster has a traumatic effect on communities and research participants. To address this question, I discuss the concept of resilience, admittedly a controversial one for the discipline (Barrios, 2016, ‘Resilience: A commentary from the vantage point of anthropology’), though not from the perspective of communities but instead that of researchers themselves. What are the gaps in sending to the field anthropologists prepared to manage challenging circumstances such as disasters and emotional distress, particularly when those are unexpected? Are there teaching and training practices that can cover these gaps and make anthropologists resilient to the climate crisis? Taking a self-reflective approach on conducting disaster fieldwork and using examples from the bibliography, this paper proposes a set of skills anthropologists need to have for handling disasters in the field, particularly focusing on the wellbeing of their research participants as well as their own.
Angela Mazzetti (Newcastle University)
Paper long abstract:
Living under the adverse conditions of protracted war, conflict and violence have an imprinting effect on society members, leaving deep psychic and social scars. These scars continue to have impact during the transitional phases from conflict to peace as legacy issues remain unresolved, continuing to be triggered by traces of conflict. Conducting research in such settings can be challenging as even mundane discussions can trespass into sensitive territory when society is in a state of socio-political flux. Yet, preparing for research in such fragile contexts is not the mainstay of research methods training. In this paper, I reflect on the ethical and emotional challenges I encountered during my research in postconflict Northern Ireland. I believe that such discussions are necessary to ensure that researchers do not eschew research in such contexts in favour of other less sensitive research. It is therefore anticipated that this paper will be of interest to those who are currently conducting research in such contexts and those who are planning to conduct research in transitional settings.
Juliet Brown (UCL)
Paper long abstract:
In Masahiro Mori's groundbreaking 1970 essay, he advocates for a comprehensive exploration of the uncanny valley phenomenon. Mori's original graph depicting the uncanny valley features a Bunraku puppet, showcasing a notable peak in 'perceiver's affinity,' successfully steering clear of the uncanny valley. In the context of my doctoral research, I delved into the pitfalls associated with the tech industry's relentless pursuit of realism. This exploration is particularly relevant to a psychotherapy group comprised of adults who endured developmental trauma during childhood, at British boarding schools.
The forthcoming discussion will propose strategies to mitigate retraumatisation by advocating for the use of blank symbolism over hyper-realistic depictions. This recommendation draws on examples from diverse mediums, including virtual reality, desktop game-like experiences, art therapy, and interactive documentaries.
The paper concludes by highlighting the pivotal role of playfulness in representations of the child-self. It posits that the most effective and vibrant portrayals of the child-self are those that embrace a departure from reality, engaging participants in the creative process and movement to access their interiority and implicit memories.
Above all, the research underscores the significance of "communitas" (Turner, 1969, 1974b) within the group dynamics. Emphasising the cumulative impact of years spent in the group setting, the paper contends that this sense of communal solidarity surpasses any singular therapeutic intervention in its influence on the participants.
Shan-Estelle Brown (Rollins College)
Paper short abstract:
This paper describes trauma-informed approaches for teaching medical anthropology with a focus on building community with a small class size.
Paper long abstract:
At a small liberal arts institution in Florida in the United States, I teach undergraduate students about culture, ethnographic methods, health, healthcare, and inequality where anthropologists find it around the world. I believe that my teaching style has always embraced and conveyed a sense of care and justice for humanity, but a few years ago I transitioned from Universal Design for Learning into a fully integrated, obvious, and unapologetic use of trauma-informed pedagogy. As a medical anthropologist, I encourage my students to view illnesses and health systems as reflections of socio-cultural values. To increase students’ empathy and understanding of evidence, I employ trauma-informed pedagogy, a style that minimizes traumatization while still meeting educational goals and objectives. This pedagogical style acknowledges negative potential impacts of traumatization and re-traumatization that can arise from discussing difficult or controversial subjects. Rather than focus on the trauma that students may have encountered, I have been primarily interested in preventing retraumatization and traumatization in students for whom this information is new to them (but maybe shouldn’t be). In keeping with trauma-informed pedagogy, I include numerous opportunities for student choice such as choosing presentation dates, assignments with rolling deadlines, and choice of prompt for take-home exams. My teaching style embraces active learning, is purposefully trauma-informed, and encourages community engagement. For this paper, I will explain in detail my decision making for designing my anthropology courses using trauma-informed pedagogy.
Lisa Davidson (York University)
Paper short abstract:
How do we teach trauma-informed anthropology without centering on damage? This paper considers how students reflect on lived realities of Japanese Canadians interned during World War II through a data-driven storytelling module, taught in collaboration with the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.
Paper long abstract:
How do we teach trauma-informed anthropology in a way that does not center on damage? Since 2022, I have collaborated with the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) in Toronto, Canada to develop a pedagogical module on data-driven storytelling. With photos from the JCCC’s archives, students are tasked to research an element of Japanese Canadian history, community, and/or agency, inspired from their selected picture, then to develop a multimodal ethnographic narrative that is accessible and relevant to the Japanese Canadian community. I will first begin by considering some challenges in teaching first-year anthropology students of the trauma and racism experienced by Japanese Canadians dispossessed and interned by the Canadian government during World War II. Second, I will discuss how students engage with and reflect on their conversation with Keo Shibatani, a Japanese Canadian who was displaced from his home in Vancouver, forcefully relocated to the Tashme camp in the interior of British Columbia, then displaced again to Japan after the war. This section attends to the lessons learned from this unsettling conversation on trauma, specifically the lived reality and lasting impact of dispossession. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion on the work of students’ multimodal ethnographic storytelling and how they attend to the impact of trauma by considering the agency, resilience, and futurity of Japanese Canadians. While student projects are of anthropological and academic concerns, student projects are curated and exhibited for the JCCC community thereby teaching students that their findings are used by, for, and with community (Tuck 2009).
Trudi Buck (Durham University)
Paper short abstract:
Teaching biological anthropology means students unknowingly working with the skeletons of individuals who likely did not consent to their post-mortem use. This paper proposes an osteobiographical method to acknowledge the difficult truths inherent in biological anthropological epistemology.
Paper long abstract:
Teaching biological anthropology in the 21st century means having to acknowledge numerous difficult truths within the classroom. Disciplinary pedagogy is necessarily built on the use of skeletal remains to teach about human morphological variation through time and space. Students are expected to learn through working with skeletons that were obtained from a global bone trade that only became illegal in the 1980s. Universities, medical schools and individual students were able to buy, for educational purposes, the remains of individuals who likely did not consent to the use of their body after death. The use of these skeletons in the present day leads to challenging discussions with students regarding the provenance of the individuals and the ethical issues that come about due to the continued use of such human remains. This paper proposes a method of developing a more transparent way of teaching biological anthropology to acknowledge and address the difficult truths highlighted by such discussions with students. It is proposed that through the development of osteobiographies of these anatomical collections we can create a more ethical, critical and trauma-informed pedagogy of skeletal variation and human evolution. The object of this work is to create a transparency about the methods we use and the individuals we teach with to provide a starting point for further discussion around the difficult epistemology of the discipline.
Gabriele Carmelo Rosato (Pontifical Gregorian University)
Paper short abstract:
Through qualitative interviews and visual ethnography, mixed-methods research is exploring the multifaceted impact of child sexual abuse on survivors' spaces and homes. This holistic approach also develops trauma-informed anthropological practices and fosters a compassionate educational environment.
Paper long abstract:
The concept of the household is central to the anthropological debate. It is where culture is made, traditions and stories are preserved and lost, and identities are created and reshaped over time.
However, the home is not a safe place for everyone. Spatiality and domesticity offer several ways to consider how media memories are created, connected, transmitted, eluded, and re-enacted by adult survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA).
By delving into survivors’ lived experiences and their relationship with ‘phygital’ domestic spaces, ongoing fieldwork is seeking to provide valuable insights into the intersection of trauma, spatial awareness, and the educational contexts that can play a pivotal role in supporting survivors’ healing processes.
The research aims to employ a mixed-methods approach to comprehensively investigate the intricate and multifaceted effects of CSA trauma on survivors’ spaces and homes.
Through visually oriented qualitative interviews, survivors’ narratives are captured, shedding light on how their traumatic experiences have shaped their perceptions of personal and shared spaces.
Visual ethnography-based methods complement their narratives by documenting the visual and spatial elements that survivors associate with their experiences. This holistic approach will not only offer a deeper understanding of trauma’s impact but also contribute to developing trauma-informed educational practices.
The current survey shows how practising autoethnography may assist CSA survivors in sharing stories and fostering healing and resilience. Emerging evidence can also provide insight into the overarching theme of trauma-informed anthropological teaching and practice, emphasising the aim of contributing to more informed educational approaches through mixed-methods studies.
Md Asaduzzaman (Arizona State University)
Paper short abstract:
In the Rohingya crisis, trauma care faces challenges. This study explores hurdles and assesses anthropological approaches. Using interviews and observations, it delves into cultural influences. Insights aim to enhance care in this unique context, offering practical recommendations.
Paper long abstract:
In the context of the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh, the delivery of effective trauma-informed care faces multifaceted challenges. This article critically examines the hurdles encountered in providing such care and evaluates the potential of anthropological approaches to address these challenges. Drawing on qualitative research methodologies, including interviews, observations, and document analysis, this study investigates the intricate interplay between cultural, social, and contextual factors influencing the reception and efficacy of trauma-informed care among Rohingya refugees. The research seeks to answer key questions regarding the primary obstacles faced in the delivery of trauma-informed care, the impact of cultural nuances on care effectiveness, and the role of anthropological approaches in overcoming these challenges. By exploring the perceptions and experiences of hosting authorities, healthcare providers, and Rohingya refugees, this assessment aims to contribute valuable insights for enhancing the cultural sensitivity and overall efficacy of trauma-informed care within the unique setting of Rohingya refugee communities in Bangladesh. The findings of this study will not only shed light on the challenges but also offer practical recommendations for the integration of anthropological approaches to foster more responsive and contextually relevant mental health interventions.
Gillian JIN (National Chengchi University (Taiwan))
Paper short abstract:
Since 2019, over ten thousand Hong Kongers have migrated to Taiwan, whose artistic expressions convey emotions of uncertainty, rootlessness, struggle, and haze, which can be recognized as trauma, and reflect how the experience of displacement has made their expressions fragmented and chaotic.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores the creativity, agency, and also vulnerability of the diaspora community and anthropologists in the field when encountering trauma, and highlights how the method of collaborative ethnography can foster reconnection and healing. Since 2019, over ten thousand Hong Kongers have migrated to Taiwan. Due to the constant identity and emotional struggles between Hong Kong and Taiwan, they have experienced traumas that are difficult to name. Through participatory observation and co-curation, I invited several Hong Kongers who had similar experiences to express themselves anonymously through various art forms, such as painting, poetry, music, graffiti, and short films. These artistic expressions convey emotions of uncertainty, rootlessness, struggle, and haze, which can be recognized as trauma, and reflect how the experience of displacement has made their expressions fragmented and chaotic, causing a rupture in their relationship with themselves and others. Collaborative ethnography, through the more expansive and open medium of art, which allows for nuance in expression, can enable them to share and be seen so as to help them heal each other and rebuild connections with the world.
Xandra Miguel-Lorenzo (UCL)
Paper short abstract:
Trauma lived experience, re-traumatisation, and vicarious trauma are linked dis/embodied phenomena obliterating body boundaries. This paper argues for embodied intersectional trauma-informed ethnography to cultivate an awareness of the dis/embodied temporalities of trauma lived experience.
Paper long abstract:
Winfield (2022) has proposed six competencies for a trauma and justice-informed ethnography to prevent the re-traumatisation of ‘vulnerable’ populations and Trundle and Vaeau (2022) have called for a trauma-informed anthropology pedagogy to address the harmful consequences of colonial violence in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite some consideration of ‘vulnerable’ researchers (Winfield 2022), the divide between ‘them’ – and ‘us’ remains in the newly trauma-informed anthropology.
This paper argues for a trauma-informed anthropology that is intersectional. A traumatic experience is informed by different combinations of identity discrimination. Against the ‘them’ – ‘us’ divide, it suggests cultivating a double awareness of dis/embodied temporalities of trauma lived experience when conducting research. Noticing if when a person experiences a trauma event or recounts a traumatic event, our (theirs and ours) bodily experiences are grounded in the present, or if disconnected from our bodies we are re-living the past. The ethnographic present, I argue, includes, what was observed in the field, what was experienced in the field that happened before we went to the field, and what is observed in the present moment of analysis.
My argument is underpinned by autoethnography. I draw on my lived experience of trauma recovery related to gender-based violence ethnographic research in the Solomon Islands and Bolivia and trauma-informed front-line gender-based advocacy and NHS mental health recovery tutoring, in the UK. Considering local understanding of the body and healing, I conclude anthropologists can stop 'trauma transmission' with trauma psychoeducation and using intentionally different somatic practices when exposed to traumatic material or events.
Dominique Santos (Rhodes) Thandokazi May (Rhodes University)
Paper short abstract:
African Indigenous Knowledge Systems are explored here for the ontological possibilities they offer to transforming teaching practice to mitigate the violence and trauma of the colonial university’s locking of students into one ontological frame presented as ‘normal’.
Paper long abstract:
Like other societies shaped by settler colonial domination, South African education systems have
historically excluded indigenous knowledge systems and indigenous identities through both
violent and subtle methods, including language and appearance policies aimed at disciplining
and subduing the indigenous body. What has been termed ‘intellectual colonization’ sees the ongoing dismissal of African
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) as inferior, or as a resource to exploit. AIKS have been an object of study for anthropologists since the discipline’s inception, but the ontological possibilities it offers to transforming teaching practice from within have not been taken up. There has been much discussion about the decolonization of education in South Africa, but very rarely are these decolonial discussion efforts met with actual change in pedagogical approaches. We reflect here on attempts to integrate indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) into the curriculum and pedagogical approach of an Anthropology Hons course in an English-Medium South African university in the Eastern Cape. We argue that sharing understanding of content, and incorporating teaching practices, from an AIKS approach can enhance learning, and complement existing academic practices of text-based enquiry to produce a knowledge-transmission experience grounded in indigenous modes of learning which might mitigate the violence and trauma of the colonial university’s locking of students into one ontological frame presented as ‘normal’.