The Body Remembers: Exploring the Effect of Trauma on the Body

Conflict traumatizes societies in multiple ways. Most concretely, it damages infrastructure, obliterating houses, schools, and cultural sites. It also destroys the social fabric by poisoning feelings of trust and commonality among community members. An equally common, but often overlooked result of conflict is the devastating and long-lasting effect it has on bodies. The body may serve as evidence of physical violence through scars or missing limbs, but also frequently carries less visible, but still life-altering signs of trauma, from anxiety and insomnia to a more general unease that can be difficult to name but leads to further marginalization of victims. In this webinar, we will explore how conflict, and injustice more generally, presents itself in our individual and collective bodies. Panelists will also provide insight into ways to counteract this damage through art-based and somatic healing methods.