ATS3956 - Trauma and memory in the modern world - 2018

This unit focuses on the histories, theories, and applications of conceptions of trauma in relation to events from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It explores trauma from international and interdisciplinary perspectives: as a concept that spans such areas as psychology, film and media studies, literature, history, philosophy, and anthropology, among others. In turn, that exploration will help illuminate a number of transnational and transhistorical case studies that may include: the rise and scope of modernity from a global perspective at the turn of the nineteenth century; war traumas associated with both past and current conflicts spanning Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; experiences of political and social struggles, human rights violations, and genocides taking place throughout the globe; issues of colonization and decolonization; the perpetration of sexual and gender-based violence worldwide; and to the study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other classifications of individual and collective suffering that shape how traumatic histories are remembered and represented

Students successfully completing this unit will be able to demonstrate:

1. An understanding of the various individual, historical, cultural, and political factors that contribute to the shaping of traumatic memory.
2. The ability to insightfully articulate and analyse the scholarly debates regarding differences between individual and collective experiences of trauma.
3. The skills to critically assess the limitations and possibilities of employing Western conceptions of trauma to understanding non-Western contexts.
4. An understanding of how trauma operates as both an internal psychological experience and as an external, social, and global phenomenon.
5. A clear understanding of how traumatic memory shapes the representation of violence and suffering from an international perspective, through fiction and non-fiction writing (including novels, memoirs and works of historiography); film and television; museums and memorials; and photography, painting, and other media.
6. The ability to critically analyse different kinds of historical sources including audiovisual testimonies.
7. The development of skills for collaborative learning and group work.
8. The acquisition of solid writing and oral presentation skills.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Holocaust and genocide studies

Human rights

International studies

Jewish studies