THE INTERPLAY OF VIOLENCE AND TRAUMA IN THE HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF CONFEDERATE SYMBOLS
Date
2019
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Abstract
This study investigates the interplay of violence and trauma in conflict surrounding Confederate symbols in the small Southern city of Danville, VA. Analysis of data confirms a dual causality of trauma within the case study context: Trauma both results from and contributes to violence surrounding historical interpretations of Confederate symbols. Contrary to psychologically based theories of group and collective trauma which preference intergenerational transmission of trauma through Freudian psychoanalytic mechanisms, data from the case study suggests a constructivist model. In such a model, traumatic meanings are both dynamic and derived from collective interpretations of actual or perceived events which may change based on historical, social, or political conditions. Interruption of sociological processes incorporating traumatic historical events into a revised collective identity exacerbated by moral injury trauma rather than psychological symptomology appear to effect meaning-making surrounding Confederate symbols in the Danville community. Data also indicates community traumatization and a typology of structural trauma weakening social networks and diminishing resilience. A trauma-informed model for addressing community conflict is presented.