1st Edition
Ordinary and Presumptive Trauma Exploring the Psychological Impacts of Oppression
1. Ordinary Trauma: The Psychic Harms of Oppression 2. Dehumanization: The Process of Making Trauma Ordinary 3. Historical and Presumptive Trauma: Ordinary Trauma in the Past, Present, and Future 4. Victim-Blaming and Fragility: How Systems Distribute Harm and Accountability 5. Experiential Illegibility: Tools for Denying and Invalidating Ordinary Trauma 6. Resistant Reclamations: Thoughts on Healing Against Ordinary Trauma 7. Self-Actualization: From Meeting Needs to Becoming Ourselves
Biography
Samuel Z. Shelton holds an M.A. degree in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Their teaching and scholarship address topics in Critical Trauma Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Queer and Trans studies, and transformative justice movements.
“Ordinary and Presumptive Trauma is a visionary book that reimagines how we think about and respond to trauma. Both deeply theoretical and profoundly practical, it equips leaders to advance trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches to social change. Timely, transformative, and essential for building healthier, more compassionate communities, organizations, and systems for all.”
Brian Vanderheyden, MPH, MEd, CHES®, coordinator of employee engagement and retention at Des Moines Area Community College
“By bringing together the fields of psychology, gender studies, and critical theory, Ordinary and Presumptive Trauma persuasively reframes trauma from an individualized and medicalized experience to one that is ordinary and embedded in structures of racism, sexism, and ableism. Through this framework, this text offers important insights for scholars and activists alike in the journey towards collective liberation.”
Abigail Barefoot, assistant professor of instruction in legal studies at Northwestern University
