Engaging with Trauma: from Reflections on a Survivor’s Experience of Child Sexual Abuse to Developing a Trauma-Informed Approach for Anthropological Teaching and Research

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research among female survivors of gender-based violence seeking psychological support from Italian NGOs (Milan, 2018-2022), this article will show how trauma is embodied and how exposure to traumatic events intersects and shapes life trajectories. Specifically, I will investigate the mental health challenges and psychophysical responses to trauma that led to deep personal ruptures in the life of a female high school student who experienced child sexual abuse. This anthropological research engages with scholarship on theories of trauma and discourses on mental health among survivors of gender-based violence to explore intersubjective interactions in traumatised people’s everyday life. This contribution highlights the relevance of anthropology to our understanding of trauma as a subjective, temporally informed, and contextual experience that produces vulnerability in every individual involved in research and teaching settings. The ethnographic data and narratives presented in this article will provide an in-depth and nuanced understanding of mental health issues, offering an opportunity for teachers to reflect on trauma-informed teaching to approach students who, like my research participants, have been exposed to traumatic events. This anthropological perspective allows teachers and researchers to recognise signs of distress in survivors, research participants, students, and colleagues, in order to mitigate and avoid individuals’ re-traumatisation, and secondary traumatic stress.

TRIGGER WARNING: This paper contains survivor’s accounts of feelings and experiences related to child sexual abuse and eating disorder.

Keywords: Child sexual abuse, embodiment, gender-based violence, temporality, trauma, trauma-informed approaches