Historical Trauma and Transformation: A Place-Based Humanities Minor

FAIN: AA-290001-23

University of Tulsa (Tulsa, OK 74104-9700)
Lisa Cromer (Project Director: May 2022 to present)
Kristen Oertel (Co Project Director: December 2022 to present)

A two-year project to create a minor program that centers on place-based approaches to studying trauma and local history. 

The Historical Trauma and Transformation (H2T) Minor uses place-based learning to cultivate a deep understanding of American and world history by exploring how collective trauma and the responses to it have shaped society and institutional structures. H2T will engage students in meaningful class discussions, hands-on research with archival materials, and excursions to museums and historic sites. The intention is for H2T courses to weave Tulsa history and resources together with place-based learning and community partnerships. Courses will examine contemporary social structures, values, and beliefs within the context of their historical roots that include a history of racism, colonization, forced migration, and/or genocide. Students will use trauma theory and an understanding of historical and intergenerational trauma transmission to address current-day problems. Students will learn how people and cultures survive, thrive, and transform trauma as they shape societal change.

Media Coverage

TU receives $150K grant to create new trauma studies minor (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Tim Stanley
Publication: The Tulsa World
Date: 2/4/2023
Abstract: Announcement of the award and comments from co-PI Oertel and university officials.
URL: http://tulsaworld.com/news/local/education/tu-receives-150k-grant-to-create-new-trauma-studies-minor/article_0a6f5f04-a1a1-11ed-ab6b-57354c28e885.html

TU Set to Begin New Trauma Studies Minor (Media Coverage)
Publication: @utulsa magazine
Date: 5/1/2023
Abstract: The University of Tulsa Magazine did a three page story to cover the new minor.
URL: http://https://issuu.com/utulsa1894/docs/utulsa-spring23_issuue_17may23

New minor at the University of Tulsa offers interdisciplinary studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation, or H2T (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Meredith Johnson
Publication: Mvskoke Media
Date: 2/27/2024
Abstract: A new academic minor with a strong community focus is now available at the University of Tulsa. The Historical Trauma and Transformation minor, also called H2T, is being offered through the interdisciplinary Tulsa Institute of Trauma, Adversity, and iNjustice (TITAN) at the university. The program received a funding grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in Feb 2023 and began enrolling students in October.
URL: http://https://www.mvskokemedia.com/new-minor-at-the-university-of-tulsa-offers-interdisciplinary-studies-in-historical-trauma-and-transformation-or-h2t/

New minor based on Indigenous trauma studies offered at TU (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Felix Clary
Publication: Tulsa World
Date: 2/26/2024
Abstract: The University of Tulsa has created a new trauma studies minor that explores historical trauma effects and treatments based on an Indigenous psychologist’s theories. The new minor is called the Historical Trauma and Transformation minor, or H2T for short. It was created by the TU Institute of Trauma, Adversity and Injustice with a $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lisa DeMarni Cromer, executive director of the institute and lead on the project, stated, “TITAN (the TU Institute of Trauma, Adversity and Injustice) has long been on the leading edge of trauma-focused interdisciplinary scholarship and providing this educational opportunity at the undergraduate level will have far-reaching impacts. A key aspect of this unique program is an NEH sponsored Summer Faculty Training Institute that brought trauma-focused, culturally humble teaching approaches to courses that are in the minor’s curriculum.”
URL: http://https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/indigenous/new-minor-based-on-indigenous-trauma-studies-offered-at-tu/article_d085e564-b6fe-11ee-a674-bf7d91ef5e00.html#tncms-source=login

THE REIGN OF TERROR AND THE HISTORICAL TRAUMA IT BROUGHT TO THE OSAGE (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Craig Day
Date: 10/13/2023
URL: https://www.newson6.com/story/652a0dc5f9d06b06484a7e68/oklahoma-city-bombing-victims

Associated Products

H2T Core Course Syllabus (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: H2T Core Course Syllabus
Author: Kristen Oertel
Author: Lisa Cromer
Abstract: This course is a required “core” course for the H2T minor. It uses interdisciplinary, place-based learning to cultivate a deep understanding of American and world history by exploring how collective trauma and the responses to it have shaped society and institutional structures. H2T will engage students in meaningful class discussions, hands-on research with archival materials, and excursions to museums and historic sites. The intention is for this course to weave Tulsa history and resources together with place-based learning and community partnerships. We will examine contemporary social structures, values, and beliefs within the context of their historical roots that include a history of racism, colonization, forced migration, and/or genocide. Students will use trauma theory and an understanding of historical and intergenerational trauma transmission to address current-day problems. Students will learn how people and cultures survive, thrive, and transform trauma as they shape societal change. Student Learning Outcomes: -Apply psychological principles to understand impacts and responses to historical trauma -Use placed-based, and community engaged learning to critically analyze Tulsa’ s history and identify psychological responses to historical trauma. -Explain how settler colonialism and enslavement worked together to disenfranchise people of color, promote white supremacy, and shape the foundations of U.S. society. Discuss how racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and refugees cultivated strategies of resistance and survivance. Examine psychological well-being and the importance of community narratives, oral history, and cultural identity for resilience and transformation.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://sites.utulsa.edu/titan/historical-trauma-transformation-minor/
Audience: Undergraduate

H2T Minor website (Web Resource)
Title: H2T Minor website
Author: TITAN
Abstract: Tulsa is situated at the intersection of deeply traumatic historical events, including the Trail of Tears and the Tulsa Race Massacre. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced the migration of tens of thousands of Indigenous and enslaved people from the southern United States to Indian Territory. The field of historical trauma has grown exponentially in the last three decades as people seek to understand myriad historical collective traumas and how historical trauma has shaped their ancestors’ lives as well as their present-day experiences. There are 114 trauma-focused master’s and certificate programs worldwide, and only two are at the undergraduate level and clinically focused. Historical Trauma and Transformation (H2T) is an interdisciplinary humanity-centered minor that is the initiative of The University of Tulsa Institute of Trauma, Adversity, and iNjustice (TITAN). H2T was funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities Initiative grant, to provide a humanity-centered, trauma-focused education to students from across colleges and departments at TU. The core course uses interdisciplinary, place-based learning to cultivate a deep understanding of American and world history by exploring how collective trauma and its responses have shaped society and institutional structures. H2T will engage students in meaningful class discussions, hands-on research with archival materials, and excursions to museums and historic sites. This course intends to weave Tulsa’s history and resources together with place-based learning and community partnerships.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://sites.utulsa.edu/titan/historical-trauma-transformation-minor/

Re-Counting Coup:​ ​ Communicating Indigenous Vitality in the Age of Historical Trauma​ (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Re-Counting Coup:​ ​ Communicating Indigenous Vitality in the Age of Historical Trauma​
Author: Joseph Gone
Abstract: Contemporary American Indians suffer from disproportionately high degrees of psychiatric distress. Mental health researchers and professionals, as well as American Indian community members, have consistently associated these disproportionate rates of distress with indigenous historical experiences of European and Euro-American colonization. This emphasis on the impact of colonization and associated historical consciousness within tribal communities has occasioned increasingly widespread professional consideration of “historical trauma” among indigenous peoples. In contrast to personal experiences of a traumatic nature, the discourse of historical trauma weds the concepts of “historical oppression” and “psychological trauma” to explain community-wide risk for adverse mental health outcomes originating from the depredations of past colonial subjugation through intergenerational transmission of vulnerability and risk. But is this discourse of historical trauma really the best way to describe, explain, and represent American Indian responses to historical oppression and ongoing disadvantage? In this presentation, I describe various historical functions of Aaniih-Gros Ventre war narratives or coup tales, including their role in conveying or communicating life or vitality. Through comparative consideration of the “trauma narrative” and the “coup tale,” an alternative framework for cultivating American Indian community resilience rather than vulnerability will be proposed on the basis of these fundamentally incompatible discursive practices. Learning objectives: (1) define Indigenous historical trauma and explain how it differs from personal trauma, and (2) describe how coup tales contrast with trauma narratives.
Date: 1/18/2024
Primary URL: https://calendar.utulsa.edu/event/indigenous-historical-trauma-and-transformation/
Conference Name: H2T keynote lecture

Suicide and the Status of American Indian Youth (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Suicide and the Status of American Indian Youth
Author: Delores BigFoot
Abstract: https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/guidelines_peer-supervision_ppt_withpresenternotes_cp2.pdf   https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/mental-health/index.htm   https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/programs/tribal/index.html#:~:text=American%20Indian%20and%20Alaska%20Native,greater%20than%20the%20general%20population.   https://commissiononnativechildren.org/news/the-way-forward-report-of-the-commission-on-native-children/   https://www.doi.gov/priorities/strengthening-indian-country/federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative   https://988lifeline.org/help-yourself/native-americans/   https://sprc.org/
Date: 4/9/2024
Primary URL: https://calendar.utulsa.edu/event/judy-berry-lecture-series/
Conference Name: Judy O. Berry Lecture Series

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