Resources

DeAlexander, Jeffrey C., Ron Eyerman, Bernhard Giesen, Neil J. Smelser, and Piotr Sztompka. 2004. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.

Matoba, Kazuma. 2023. "Measuring Collective Trauma: A Quantum Social Science Approach.” Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science 57 (2): 412–31. doi:10.1007/s12124-022-09696-2.

Williams, Tiffany R., Tanesha L. Walker, and Whitney N. Wyatt. 2022. “Conceptualizing Racism through a Systemic Trauma Lens: Impacts on Black College Students.” Journal of Psychotherapy Integration 32 (1): 49–63. doi:10.1037/int0000206.

While acknowledgement of trauma is important for survivors of violence and other severely disruptive life events, the emphasis on individual pathology tends to ignore the structural factors (such as racism, sexism, war, etc.) that collectively harm members of societies. Scholars and activists are concerned, moreover, that individualized attributions and therapeutic interventions often veer into victim-blaming.

Thompson, L. (2021). Toward a feminist psychological theory of “institutional trauma." Feminism & Psychology, 31(1), 99-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353520968374

The article begins with a concise critique of medical models of trauma that individualize and pathologize suffering and in recent years see it as permanently located in the individual’s body or even physically transmitted intergenerationally. These models place unquestioned power in the hands of biomedical practitioners, obscure the reality of diversity in lived experience, and focus solely on “fixing” distressed individuals rather than addressing their suffering within socio-political contexts. The author argues that "the trauma industry conjures a celebratory “aesthetic’ of resilience, which normalizes the damage inflicted within white supremacist patriarchy, responsibilities afflicted individuals to manage their own recovery, and celebrates those who are able to overcome the damage.” As a corollary, those who do not “recover” risk further, sometimes extreme treatments or even criminalization.

A second theme in this article is what the author terms "institutional trauma." “While traditional theories view trauma as a deviance or aberration, institutional theories view trauma as an organizing and sustaining feature of institutions and institutional power. … An institutional analytic therefore articulates trauma as a product of institutional power and views institutions as methods for the production of trauma.”

Carlton, Bree, and Emma K. Russell. 2023. “The Weaponization of ‘Trauma-Informed’ Discourse in Prison Policy: An Abolition Feminist Critique.” Incarceration: An International Journal of Imprisonment, Detention, and Coercive Confinement. doi:10.1177/26326663231197960.

This article offers a broad critique of the way in which “trauma” is used as a means of defining women as both pathological and risky. These gendered constructions open the door to whole projects of trauma-informed carceral policies that justify building new prisons, gloss over the structural violence involved in incarcerating women (removing them from their families, etc.), dismiss the social structural violence that harms women inside and outside prison, and ignore the complexities of intersectional forms of oppression. While the authors center their discussion on Australian prisons, the descriptions and implications are important globally.

Britt L, Hammett WH. 2024. Trauma as Cultural Capital: A Critical Feminist Theory of Trauma Discourse. Hypatia.39(4):916-933. doi:10.1017/hyp.2024.22 

This article argues that the central issue from a feminist perspective is not whether trauma has been defined too expansively—a debate that risks delegitimizing the trauma of marginalized communities—but rather how trauma discourse is being used. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, the authors show that trauma narratives can be co-opted by powerful individuals to uphold patriarchal structures, enrich themselves socially and materially, and delegitimize the trauma of less powerful groups. However, it is also possible to reframe trauma as a political and cultural asset (not just a psychological or medical condition) that makes trauma visible and meaningful for survivors. 

Sered, Susan Starr, and Maureen Norton-Hawk. 2015. Can’t Catch a Break: Gender, Jail, Drugs, and the Limits of Personal Responsibility. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (Esp. chapters 4, 5, 6).

This book draws on five years of research among criminalized women in the Boston area. The authors argue that the label ‘trauma’ functions as a two-edged sword: legitimizing women’s reports of their experiences of abuse while defining those experiences as individual, personal challenges that should be overcome.

Thompson, Lucy. 2025. Institutional Trauma: A Critical Psychological Perspective on Power, Violence, and Harm. Routledge. ISBN: 9780367487249

This book argues that trauma should not be understood only as an individual psychological experience but also as something produced and maintained by institutions. Thompson examines how institutional structures, power relations, and systemic violence shape experiences of harm, and she calls for responses that focus on institutional accountability and transformation rather than solely individual treatment. Drawing on feminist and critical theory, the book challenges dominant medicalized understandings of trauma and reframes institutions themselves as sites of both harm and potential repair.

The understanding of collective trauma acknowledges intersecting racial, gender, class, ethnic, legal, and other identities and statuses that shape trauma in diverse and overlapping ways.

Kelly, M. et al. Collective Trauma in Queer Communities. Sexuality and Culture, [s. l.], v. 24, n. 5, p. 1522, 2020. DOI 10.1007/s12119-020-09710-y. 

This article explores collective trauma through experiences reported in qualitative interviews with 80 (self-identified) queer people in Portland, Oregon. Themes emerging in the interviews include (1) outside forces, including societal stigma, discrimination, and inequality, contribute to collective trauma. (2) Interactions of internal and external factors lead to feelings of loneliness, internalized oppression, and difficulties accepting oneself. (3) The absence of intergenerational history-sharing within queer communities makes it harder to develop a collective identity as a group. (4) Within the queer community, individuals experience different discriminations and inequalities, such as racism and ageism, that isolate them from the rest of the community.

The article highlights the value of encouraging unity, inclusion, and proactive measures to address internal problems within the queer community. Suggestions for building resilience, empowerment, and healing include creating areas for group memory-building, addressing structural injustices, and promoting an intersectional perspective on trauma and identity.

Additional Reading

Watson, Marlene F. 2024. “Caste and Black Intergenerational Racial Trauma in the United States of America.” Family Process 63 (2): 475–87. doi:10.1111/famp.12955.

Gender-based violence including rape, sexual trafficking, intimate partner abuse, and the structural violence of systemic inequality are forms of collective trauma that impact millions of women, children, and men around the world. In the United States, for example, the large majority of incarcerated women report experiences of sexual violence often beginning in childhood.

Bond, Kim, and Kate Davis. 2024. “Improving the Likelihood of Positive Outcomes for Survivors of Sexual Violence, Considering Intersections Between Justice, Gender, and Trauma.” Social Policy & Administration, December 1. doi:10.1111/spol.13110. 

This literature review covers intersections of disability and abuse, issues of criminal law and trauma, as well as stigma and gendered inequality. These factors shape both individual and societal outcomes. Specific issues the article addresses include (1) difficulties of holding perpetrators accountable given the low reporting rates, high attrition, low conviction rates, and re‐traumatization that are common in the criminal-legal system. (2) Disclosure of GBV is essential for survivors to access support and justice, yet disclosure is often hindered by fears of disbelief, stigma, retaliation, and intersecting social, racial, and economic factors. (3) GBV, and especially childhood abuse, negatively impacts survivors' relationships, educational outcomes, employment, and earnings throughout their lives. (4) These seemingly personal challenges lead to broader societal costs, including increased demand for healthcare and lost productivity. 

Additional Readings

Pain, R. (2021). Collective trauma? Isolating and commoning gender-based violence. Gender, Place & Culture, 29(12), 1788–1809. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2021.1975103

Rajiva, M., & Takševa, T. (2021). Thinking against trauma binaries: The interdependence of personal and collective trauma in the narratives of Bosnian women rape survivors. Feminist Theory, 22(3), 405–427. https://doi-org.ezproxysuf.flo.org/10.1177/1464700120978863

Salter, M., Woodlock, D., Dragiewicz, M., Conroy, E., Ussher, J., Burke, J., & Middleton, W. (2025). “I see it running through my family”: The intergenerational and collective trauma of gender-based violence. Journal of Family Trauma, Child Custody & Child Development, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/26904586.2024.2443843

Elizabeth Swavola, Kristine Riley, Ram Subramanian. 2016. Overlooked: Women and Jails in an Era of Reform. New York: Vera Institute of Justice. overlooked-women-and-jails-report-updated.pdf

The criminal justice system is the context of several articles in other sections of this annotated bibliography. The central place of CJ systems in the study of collective trauma reflects the dual role of CJ institutions as places in which traumatized people often end up as a consequence of the criminalization of poverty or mental illness AND as a setting that further traumatizes people through loss of autonomy and privacy, pervasive violence and threats of violence, and forced separation from families and communities.

Comack, Elizabeth. 2018. Coming Back to Jail: Women, Trauma, and Criminalization. Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing. 

In this study of women incarcerated at the Women’s Correctional Center in Manitoba, Canada, Comack proposes a sociological framework that sees trauma (and women’s criminalization) as resulting from systemic issues such as colonialism, systemic racism, cultural genocide, and structural barriers (e.g., race, class, gender) that force women into the criminal justice system. She argues that when all of these barriers are taken into account, “trauma is understood not as a psychological disorder or disease but as the lived experience of residing in a settler colonial, capitalist, patriarchal society” (p. 28). Thus, it is problematic to explain or try to influence women’s behaviors in terms of “choice” as is common both in punitive and therapeutic contexts. 

Additional Reading 

Grekul, Jana. 2020. “Prisoning Indigenous Women: Strength and Resilience in the Face of Systemic Trauma.” Aboriginal Policy Studies 9 (1): 3–24. doi:10.5663/aps.v9i1.29360.  

The first three articles offer models for thinking about the core components of collective healing. The next three articles feature case studies of movements and programs that center collective healing as an explicit approach to collective trauma. While the three cases differ dramatically from one another in terms of scope and location, all emphasize creating environments that nurture collective safety and autonomy for girls and women. Finally, the article by Morrison and Morrison in the Additional Reading section clarifies the lack of methodologically rigorous studies supporting any particular approach to healing people and communities impacted by collective trauma.

Hirschberger, Gilad. 2018. “Collective Trauma and the Social Construction of Meaning.” Frontiers in Psychology Vol. 9, Article 1441. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01441

Hirschberger’s classic work examines how societies shift collective traumatic experiences into shared memories that shape group identities and relationships. Shared traumatic experiences can be turned into bonding experiences, such as memorials, to connect the whole community and heal together. 

Thomson, Garrett. 2021. "Collective Healing: Towards a Conceptual Framework." Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal Vol. 15: Iss. 3: 33–48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.15.3.1843

This article identifies four essential dimensions of collective healing in the aftermath of mass atrocities, emphasizing that healing must address the core harm of dehumanization: engagement in meaningful activities, emotional connection to these activities, positive relationships, and the restoration of self-worth. Collective healing requires safe spaces where individuals can share and validate each other’s experiences, transcend the social divisions created by violence and trauma, and confront the structural conditions that enable such acts. 

De Young, Mary. 1996. “Collective Trauma: Insights From a Research Errand.” Traumatic Stress Library, The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. https://www.aaets.org/traumatic-stress-library/collective-trauma-insights-from-a-research-errand

De Young’s article engages with sociologist Kai Erikson’s concept of the “research errand” to examine how collective trauma is experienced and understood across diverse contexts, from industrial disasters to long-term social ruptures. The piece emphasizes culture’s role in shaping both the experience of trauma and pathways toward recovery, showing how cultural systems can buffer individuals from harm or, when they fail, leave communities disempowered.

The article also illustrates mechanisms of collective healing—rituals, shared memory, narrative practices, and symbolic acts—that enable communities to make sense of trauma together rather than as isolated individuals. These examples demonstrate that healing from collective trauma is a socially embedded process that involves cultural meaning-making, solidarity, and communal continuity rather than only clinical intervention.

Leng, Junxiao. 2025. “Collectivizing Trauma: Everyday Experiences, Empathy, and Grassroots Activism in Japan’s Flower Demonstration against Sexual Violence.” Feminist Media Studies 25 (2): 284–302. doi:10.1080/14680777.2023.2297162.

Using ethnographic methods, semi-structured interviews, and media analysis, the author tracks ways in which a grassroots movement—the Flower Demonstration—challenged Japan’s victim-blaming culture and politics. This grassroots movement, which emerged in response to several high-profile court cases that exonerated clearly guilty rapists, created safe spaces throughout the country for women to come together and tell their stories. “While sharing personal traumas allows many to realize they are victims and that encountering sexual violence is not their fault, the establishment of collective trauma takes one step further— forging solidarity among the participants based on their shared miseries.”

Throughout the article, the author unpacks why and how the Flower Demo movement has been extraordinarily successful in terms of numbers of participants, scope (throughout Japan), and diversity of participants and in terms of leading to concrete policy changes and identifiable attitude changes in Japan. 

Camille R. Quinn. 2025. “Trauma, Justice, and Equity: Using Critical Theories and Concepts to Address Systemic Harm Among Youth Punishment System-Involved Black Girls.” Behavioral Sciences 15 (1): 31. doi:10.3390/bs15010031. 

Structural factors such as racialized gender stereotypes and the criminalization of survival behaviors contribute to higher rates of arrest and detention among Black girls. At the same time, Black girls, particularly those involved in the youth punishment system (YPS), often struggle with trauma in the face of disproportionate exposure to violence, abuse, neglect, and systemic racism. 

Given these realities, Quinn argues that meaningful healing must aim at building collective resilience, resistance, liberation, and solidarity. Reviewing several innovative programs addressing collective trauma and healing among Black women and girls, Quinn lays out the need for multifaceted approaches that include culturally responsive trauma-informed care and holistic support systems and advocacy efforts to dismantle the structural violence that harms Black girls and the provision of environments that feature justice and equity. 

Koebach, Anke, and Katy Robjant. 2022. “NETfacts: An integrated intervention at the individual and collective level to treat communities affected by organized violence.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America vol. 119, 44 (2022): e2204698119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2204698119 

This article is one of the very few published studies that take a rigorous look at the impact of programs designed to address collective trauma. The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of many places in the world in which violence—and especially rape—has become normalized in civilian settings. The authors of this study tested the effectiveness of evidence-based individual Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) and a collective trauma-informed community-based intervention (NETfacts). NETfacts is an innovative program that facilitates the creation of a collective narrative. The researchers implemented a randomized controlled design with six villages and interviewed a sample of 1,066 community members. Their results demonstrate that the NETfacts program in comparison with NET alone more effectively reduced rape myth acceptance as well as ongoing victimization and perpetration. 

This reflective research article examines how collective trauma is studied, narrated, and interpreted within academic and community contexts. Rather than centering exclusively on pathology, the author highlights how research encounters themselves can reveal processes of collective meaning-making and repair. The article emphasizes that collective trauma is not only a condition of shared harm but also a potential site for solidarity, recognition, and transformation.

Additional reading

Morrison, N. M. V., & Morrison, B. W. 2024. Evaluating the evidence for interventions directed at healing collective trauma: A systematic review. Traumatology. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000523

Muldoon, Orla T., Alastair Nightingale, Robert Lowe, Siobhan M. Griffin, Grace McMahon, Daragh Bradshaw, and Islam Borinca. 2023. “Sexual Violence and Traumatic Identity Change: Evidence of Collective Post‐traumatic Growth.” European Journal of Social Psychology 53 (7): 1372–82. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2979.