[Vwoolf] Trigger warnings

[Diana Swanson]

thank you for your eloquence, Jean.
Diana

>>> Jean Mills <millsj7 at gmail.com> 5/19/2014 10:31 AM >>>
I echo the sentiments and experiences outlined by Vara, Diana, and
Lorena. I've had high percentages of war veterans in my classes, and
students who are survivors of sexual abuse, war trauma (not just
soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, but victims of war from conflicts
all over the globe, Bosnia-Herzegovinia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia,
C.A.R., Nigeria, Libya, Lebanon, Guatemala, Nicaragua... sadly, I could
go on), domestic abuse survivors, and incest survivors, students from
every echelon, race, class, age, sexual orientation, etc. Since I began
teaching in the CUNY system in 1999, integrating students with PTSD into
the classroom has been somewhat a norm (not to mention carrying on
teaching literature, especially Woolf and poetry, through 9/11 in
trailers and makeshift classrooms in what had just the other day been
the shadow of the Twin Towers). Thank God we had literature to help us
through. That's what its job is. Our job is to help them navigate the
experience. Professional boundaries are extremely important in the
exchange, an awareness of the support we each have in our college's
counseling services, veterans' services, etc, and the academic freedom
we cherish to craft our syllabi in a way that works both for your own
strengths as an educator and your students, who are encountering the
material for the first time. 

I am completely against having any set policy on "trigger warnings"
(what a horrible phrase) on our syllabi, but completely supportive of
alternatives meant to help members of the profession to understand and
deal with these extraordinary teachable moments in our classes. 

I also think that medium matters, and we have to be aware of the
difference between visuals in the classroom as pedagogy versus words on
the page. Anything mediated through the camera alters its content, and I
have much stronger opinions about visual representation in the
classroom, and very rarely use it. Our students are visually saturated
enough as it is, but it's a different experience reading a text,
interacting with it, and coming to one's own conclusions and
associations, versus being "shown" violence, where the student does,
indeed, become more of a passive receptor trapped or assaulted by images
not of his or her own making. 

This conversation also speaks to Woolf's continued relevance to our
students' lives and to the common and uncommon future.

Jean 


On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 10:03 AM, Lorena Russell <lrussell at unca.edu>
wrote:



Hi Jim et al.,
I actually had a student triggered in my class last semester while
teaching Mrs. Dalloway. He was an Afghanistan war veteran with PTSD and
became distressed during a discussion of *Shell Shock* and WW I. He
became agitated had to leave the class abruptly and I made the mistake
of asking him to return and stay. It was only later in conversation I
came to understand the depth of his distress and the context of his
actions. I will of course continue to teach the text, but will (as I
have done in the past with literature that contains potentially
disturbing sexual violence) make a point of including a reminder for
students of the potential for triggering events on my syllabus, and work
to find ways of minimizing trauma and maximizing engagement. With a
recent study noting 1 in 4 female college students experiences sexual
violence and an increasing number of veterans, I think the issue of
triggers in the classroom needs to be taken seriously here in the US. I
don*t think it calls for a drastic change in curriculum or pedagogy,
though.
Best,
Lorena

=======================================
Lorena Russell, Ph.D.
Director of UNC Asheville*s QEP, the Inquiry ARC
Associate Professor, Dept. Literature & Language
CPO #2130, Karpen Hall
University of North Carolina
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804
828-251-6594
( tel:828-251-6594)  | lrussell at unca.edu
========================================


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-- 
Jean Mills
Associate Professor
The Department of English
John Jay College/CUNY
524 West 59th Street, Room 7.63.12
New York, NY 10019

AUTHOR OF 
https://ohiostatepress.org/Books/Book%20Pages/Mills%20Virginia.html


212.237.8706
JEMILLS at JJAY.CUNY.EDU

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