SC387-6-FY-CO:
The Age of Trauma

The details
2024/25
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 27 June 2025
30
21 February 2024

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

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Module description

What is ‘trauma’? How and why has it become an emblem of suffering in contemporary societies? This module traces the social and medical history of trauma from 1900 through the ‘invention’ of PTSD in the 1970s to the present. It examines the social changes that have put trauma on the map, and how understandings of trauma reflect the social norms of their time.


The module topics cover two related themes: the role of psychology in military conflict during the twentieth century, and the impact of social movements from the 1960s concerned with the victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, racial injustice, and colonial traumas. The Autumn term covers the World Wars of the twentieth century, colonial conflicts in India and Algeria, and the medical and social legacies of the Vietnam war. Spring term examines social movements around childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, the AIDs epidemic, and the politics of memorialising trauma. Investigating the history of military psychiatry alongside the victim social movements of the 1960s and 70s, the module develops a critical understanding of trauma culture and medicalisation.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • To examine how medical understandings of trauma reflect the social norms of their time.

  • To consider the discovery of ‘shell-shock’ in the First World War and concludes with Gulf War Syndrome and the expansion of PTSD in the 1990s.

  • To investigate the history of military psychiatry alongside representations of war trauma in art, film, and personal testimony.

  • To develop a critical understanding of trauma culture in ‘the age of catastrophe’.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to have:



  1. Knowledge of global conflicts across the 20th Century and their psychological impact on participants and later generations.

  2. A critical understanding of concepts of trauma past and present, how they are shaped by society and history, and how they change over time from ‘hysteria’ and ‘soldier’s heart’ to ‘shell-shock’ and ‘PTSD’.

  3. A capacity to analyse and interpret testimonies of trauma, including novels, memoirs, official sources, oral testimony and film, and locate them in time and place

Module information

This module draws on approaches from the sociology of medicine and the history of modern warfare to examine how medical understandings of trauma reflect the social norms of their time. Beginning with the late nineteenth century and cases of hysteria, the module considers the discovery of ‘shell-shock’ in the First World War and concludes with Gulf War Syndrome and the expansion of PTSD in the 1990s. The therapeutic industries of today, it could be argued, are the children of war. Investigating the history of military psychiatry alongside representations of war trauma in art, film, and personal testimony, the module develops a critical understanding of trauma culture in ‘the age of catastrophe’.


Please view the Introduction video to The Age of Trauma via Moodle.

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

  • One 2-hour seminar each week.

Face-to-face attendance is expected.

Bibliography

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  12/12/2024  50% 
Coursework   Essay 2   24/04/2025  50% 
Exam  Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 180 minutes during Summer (Main Period) 
Exam  Reassessment Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 180 minutes during September (Reassessment Period) 

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

Coursework Exam
50% 50%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
50% 50%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Shaul Bar Haim, email: sbarhaim@essex.ac.uk.
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

 

Availability
Yes
Yes
Yes

External examiner

Dr Emily Gray
University of Warwick
Assistant Professor of Criminology
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 2 hours, 2 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Sociology and Criminology

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