Seminar for the advanced study of the subject matter of a previously given upper division course, emphasizing reading and discussion.

What happens when trauma is increasingly experienced, as well as promoted and embraced, as the defining characteristic of the daily life of a country? When a specific mental disorder – PTSD in this case – becomes a national identity marker that both expresses and exposes core dilemmas and contested values within the country? Relying upon contemporary ethnographic research from "behind the scenes" of Israeli mental health clinics located near the border with Gaza, the course addresses these questions with two main goals: 1). To explore the effects of the diagnostic categories of trauma and PTSD on the discourse of violence and social suffering in conflict and post-conflict areas; 2). To examine through the lens of key theories in anthropology, wide-ranging experiences of vulnerability, national identity, and gender and socio-economic inequality as expressed in interactions between psychiatrists and psychologists and their clients, including Israeli soldiers, members of secular, religious, and Ultra-orthodox Jewish communities, and members of Arab-Bedouin communities living near the border of Israel and Gaza.

Repeat Rules