Slave and Slaveholder Descendents Break Free of History's Trauma—Together

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:


Slave and Slaveholder Descendents Break Free of History's Trauma—Together
Responding to past traumas like slavery and acts of terrorism can heal us—and future generations.

by Lisa Gale Garrigues
posted Aug 02, 2013


In Berkeley, Calif., Palestinians and Israelis in a workshop circle pass around an invisible object called “hope.” In Atlanta, Ga., healers and activists of color make a recording that celebrates local healing traditions. In the remote villages of Alaska, a native health educator creates culture-specific programs for people recovering from alcoholism and depression. All of these people are working with collective trauma to create a clearer and more compassionate paradigm of how we view ourselves, each other, and the world.

“Collective trauma” happens to large groups of people—attempted genocide, war, disease, a terrorist attack. Its effects are specific: fear, rage, depression, survivor guilt, and physical responses in the brain and body that can lead to illness and a sense of disconnection or detachment. Collective trauma can be transmitted down generations and throughout communities.

It is further described as historical, transgenerational, cultural, or ancestral. “Each of these terms has its own nuances,” says Sousan Abadian, a former fellow at the MIT Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformational Studies, who wrote her doctoral thesis on collective trauma and international development work. For example, she says the term “cultural trauma” reflects that “trauma is not just at the level of the individual, it’s at the level of culture—that culture has been damaged, meaning institutions, cultural practices, values, and beliefs.”

Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart is one of the pioneers of applying the concept of historical trauma to native people in the Americas. For them, she writes, “Genocide, imprisonment, forced assimilation, and misguided governance have resulted in the loss of culture and identity, alcoholism, poverty, and despair.” She says she was looking at native historical photos at one point in the late 1970s when “It was almost like a light bulb went off in my head, like some kind of spiritual transformation.” She began making connections between indigenous people and Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. Historical trauma, she says, “is cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations, including one’s own lifespan, because everything up to a minute ago is history.” .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/free-yourself-from-the-past