History as Social Therapy and Trauma Recovery

The course explores the extent to which history can serve as a tool for processing collective trauma, potentially functioning as a form of social therapy. When established ways of life dissolve, confusion, frustration, and experiences of crisis often emerge. Such experiences carry the risk of being denied, repressed, or handled in other very destructive ways. Unresolved crises can be passed down through generations, with history repeating itself in new outbreaks of hatred, violence, or identity dissolution. For this reason, the question of the practical use of historical scholarship, that is, applied history, has gained significant traction in research and public debate. This also brings up the issue of the moral implications of history, and whether ethical judgments about right and wrong, guilt and responsibility, can be reconciled with the scientific ideal of impartial knowledge. The course moves across an interdisciplinary landscape that includes history, cultural studies, history of ideas, religion, sociology, political science, ethnology, and anthropology. A wide range of examples are explored regarding how problematic historical conflicts of interpretation have, or have not, been dealt with, including post-apartheid South Africa, post-Franco Spain, post-communist Eastern Europe, and experiences of Latin American military dictatorships. Topics such as social marginalisation, populist movements, and shifting gender roles are also addressed, particularly through the exploration of collective narratives, memory production, and ideology.