Living Beyond Trauma: Women’s Stories of Resilience and Growth

• In Event: Empowerment: The Resilience of Women in Various Crisis Situations

Abstract

Using oral histories from two highly traumatized and oppressed populations – survivors of terrorism in Israel and wrongfully convicted and then exonerated women in the United States – I will share the struggles they have experienced and their remarkable life journeys, including the strategies they have employed to not just move on with life as usual (as in resilience), but move forward with new purpose, contributing to society, and turning tragedy into action (as in posttraumatic growth). Their powerful stories of how they make sense of their experiences as best as they can will teach and inspire each of us as we meet the challenges in our own lives. By giving voice to their lived experiences, we help to personalize and contextualize the events surrounding the cases, humanize the people whose lives have been destroyed, and establish identities in an overwhelming sea of facts and statistics. In addition, we help to build public awareness and provide empirical evidence for lawyers, policy-makers, and advocates working to promote social justice and criminal justice reform.

Author

• Zieva D. Konvisser, Fielding Graduate University