SC387-6-FY-CO:
War and Trauma in the Modern Age
2019/20
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 03 October 2019
Friday 26 June 2020
30
16 May 2019
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA L3C8 Criminology with Social Psychology,
BA L3H8 Criminology with Social Psychology (Including Placement Year),
BA LHC8 Criminology with Social Psychology (Including Year Abroad),
BA CL83 Sociology with Social Psychology,
BA CL93 Sociology with Social Psychology (Including Placement Year),
BA CLV3 Sociology with Social Psychology (Including Year Abroad),
BA LCJ8 Sociology with Psychosocial Studies (Including Placement Year),
BA LJ8C Sociology with Psychosocial Studies (Including Year Abroad),
BA LJC8 Sociology with Psychosocial Studies,
BA L332 Sociology with Counselling Skills
What is 'trauma' and how is its history connected to that of war in the twentieth century? How have stories of trauma become a feature of contemporary society, and why?
This module traces the history of trauma from the age of 'total war', through the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts to the present, linking the history and sociology of medicine to the cultural and social history of modern warfare.
The module looks at how medical understandings of trauma have changed, and how they reflect the social norms of their time, from the late nineteenth century concern with hysteria, through the discovery of 'shell-shock' in the First World War, to Gulf War Syndrome and PTSD in the 1990s.
The module will investigate the rise and circulation of trauma culture in art, film, and personal testimony of war. It concludes with reflection on the age of catastrophe, developing a critical sociological perspective on the contemporary fascination with trauma.
* knowledge of the social and cultural history of wars across the 20th Century and of their role in the development of key concepts such as ‘shell-shock’, ‘hysteria’, ‘trauma’ and ‘PTSD’.
* skills of critical evaluation and intellectual argument.
* the capacity to interpret historical and contemporary testimony about war - including literature, oral testimony, art and film – and an ability to understand the methodological and interpretative issues associated with testimonies of trauma.
No additional information available.
- Lessing, Doris; Schlueter, Paul. (1994) A small personal voice: essays, reviews, interviews, London: Flamingo.
- Bion and experiences in groups, http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/papers/pap148h.html
- Judt, Tony. (2005) 'From the House of the Dead. An essay on modern European memory', in Postwar: a history of Europe since 1945, London: William Heinemann.
- Freud, Sigmund; Reddick, John; Edmundson, Mark. (2003) Beyond the pleasure principle and other writings, London: Penguin. vol. Penguin classics
- Jeffery, Keith. (2015) 'Commemoration in the United Kingdom: A multitude of memories', in Australian Journal of Political Science. vol. 50 (3) , pp.562-567
- Heard, Barry. (2007) Well done, those men: memoirs of a Vietnam veteran, Melbourne: Scribe Publications.
- Miriam Reisman. (2016) 'PTSD Treatment for Veterans: What’s Working, What’s New, and What’s Next', in P&T: A Peer-Reviewed Journal for Managed Care & Formulary Management: MediMedia USA. vol. 41 (10) , pp.623-634
- Wellum, Geoffrey. (2009) First light, London: Michael Joseph.
- Elizabeth Jelin; Susana G. Kaufmann. (2000) 'Layers of Memories: twenty years after in Argentina', in The politics of war memory and commemoration, London: Routledge. vol. Routledge studies in memory and narrative, pp.89-110
- W. H. R. Rivers. (1920) 'The Repression of War Experience', in Instinct and the unconscious: a contribution to a biological theory of the psycho-neuroses, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. vol. The Cambridge medical series, pp.185-204
- Kubrick, Stanley; Modine, Matthew; Baldwin, Adam. (2001) Full metal jacket, [London?]: Warner Home Video. vol. Stanley Kubrick collection
- Marianne Hirsch. (2012) The generation of postmemory: writing and visual culture after the Holocaust, New York: Columbia University Press. vol. Gender and culture
- Laub, Dori. (1991) 'Truth and Testimony: The Process and the Struggle', in American Imago: The Johns Hopkins University Press. vol. 48 (1) , pp.75-91
- Buckerfield, Lucy; Ballinger, Steve. (2019) The People's Centenary: Tracking Public Attitudes to the First World War Centenary 2013-2018: British Future.
- Elaine Showalter. (1997) 'Gulf War Syndrome', in Hystories: hysterical epidemics and modern culture, London: Picador., pp.133-143
- Dodd, Lindsey. (2013) ''It did not traumatise me at all': childhood 'trauma' in French oral narratives of wartime bombing', in Oral History: Oral History Society. vol. 41 (2) , pp.37-48
- Garland, Caroline. (1998) Understanding trauma: a psychoanalytical approach, London: Duckworth. vol. Tavistock Clinic series
- Grinker, Roy R.; Spiegel, John P. (©1979) Men under stress, New York: Irvington Publishers.
- Fonda, Jane; Hellman, Jerome; Ashby, Hal. (2004) Coming home, [U.K.]: MGM Home Entertainment.
- Herzog, Dagmar. (©2014) 'The Obscenity of Objectivity: Post-Holocaust Anti-Semitism and the Invention-Discovery of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder', in Catastrophes: a history and theory of an operative concept, Oldenbourg: De Gruyter., pp.128-155
- Susan Kent. (2009) 'Introduction', in Aftershocks: politics and trauma in Britain, 1918-1931, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan., pp.1-9
- Coppola, Francis Ford; Sheen, Martin; Brando, Marlon; Duvall, Robert. (1999, c1979) Apocalypse now, [Hollywood, Calif.?]: Paramount.
- Hoffman, Eva. (2005) After such knowledge: a meditation on the aftermath of the Holocaust, London: Vintage.
- Robert De Board. (2014) 'Groups and their basic assumptions—the in?uence of Wilfred Bion', in The psychoanalysis of organizations: a psychoanalytic approach to behaviour in groups and organizations, New York: Routledge., pp.35-48
- Michal, Givoni. (2011) 'Witnessing/Testimony', in Mafte'akh : lexical review of political thought: Tel Aviv University. vol. 2e, pp.147-170
- Lanzmann, Claude. (c2007) Shoah, [S.l.]: Eureka.
- Cimino, Michael; De Niro, Robert. (c2002) The deer hunter, [London?]: Warner Bros Home Video.
- Bion, Wilfred R.; Bion, Francesca. (1997) War memoirs, 1917-1919, London: Karnac Books.
- Freud, Sigmund; Bell, Anthea; Robertson, Ritchie. (2013) A case of hysteria: (Dora), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course. The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students. Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Essay 1 |
|
40% |
| Coursework |
Book Review |
|
20% |
| Coursework |
Essay 2 |
|
40% |
| Exam |
Main exam: 24hr during Summer (Main Period)
|
Additional coursework information
Examination: 50 %
Coursework: 50 %
1 x 2,000 word essay
40% essay
10% book review
Please note that assessment information is currently showing for 2018-19 and will be updated in August 2019
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Michael Roper, email: mrop@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Shaul Bar Haim and Professor Mike Roper
Jane Harper, Undergraduate Administrator, Telephone: 01206 873052
E-mail: socugrad@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dr Jennifer Fleetwood
Goldsmiths, University of London
Senior Lecturer in Criminology
Available via Moodle
Of 151 hours, 94 (62.3%) hours available to students:
57 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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