Interrogating Contemporary Discourses of Trauma in Schools: Toward Collective Healing in Schools and Society (Poster 7)

• In Event: Friday Poster Session 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Timely Leadership Issues From Various Socio, Cultural, and Racial Perspectives

Abstract

To engage in a broader discussion on collective healing, we discuss a framework that supports how educators can leverage healing-centered approaches in schools to address traumas faced by Communities of Color. Rather than focusing on Children of Color as being broken or in need of repair, we suggest that society has never benefitted Communities of Color since its inception, and that the current discourse that addresses “traumas” and/or “social-emotional learning” emerges from-- and reifies-- a problematic and individualist form of racism that insists on fixing children as opposed to fixing the broader societal ills that continually perpetuate these traumas. Our discussion seeks to liberate our imaginaries to envision radical possibilities of healing-centered approaches in schools.

Authors

• Liliana E. Castrellon, San José State University

• Érica Fernández, Miami University (OH)

• Alonso R. Reyna Rivarola, Salt Lake Community College

• Gerardo R. López, Michigan State University