Bodies and Trauma [4-weeks, $180 Suggested]

Instructor: Dahiya | Tuesdays June 8-29 | 8:00-10:00 PM ET

While we often think of our minds as the place of memory, recently theorists across disciplines have come to realize that certain kinds of memory—in particular traumatic memories—live in the body. In fact, many therapies for trauma specifically focus on somaticization, or the bodily experience of historical pain. What exactly is trauma, and what does it mean to say it “lives” in our bodies?

This seminar will investigate the ways in which our bodies are impacted and transformed by trauma and violence. We will study traumas that we may directly experience (in our own lives), as well as how our bodies (re)live and experience the historical trauma of genocide, slavery, and colonization. We will ask what is the afterlife of trauma—in other words, how can we feel and experience trauma that we ourselves did not directly experience? In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will study contemporary medical and scientific research about somatic experience alongside history, indigenous studies, black feminist theory, and anti-colonial writing in order to investigate how our bodies are transformed by trauma. After investigating the cultural, political, and bodily effects of trauma, we will end by imagining what radical healing may involve. 

We depend on a mix of direct student donations and supplemental donations to make all classes pay-what-you-can. Please pick the pricing tier that corresponds with your needs and that you are able to pay now. If you would like to pay in installments, make your first payment now and make a note on your check-out form. If you would like to donate more later in the term, you can always come back and use the “Make a One Time Donation” button! To use a full scholarship, just pick the $3 tier to cover site/processor fees. 

If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, we will work with you to reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After classes begin, we are only able to make partial refunds and adjustments.