Inside the Black Box of Divisive Concepts and Difficult History - Introducing a Typology of Collective Trauma in Social Studies Education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Explores the prevalence and nature of traumagenic events within Virginia’s social studies standards amid political and curricular shifts. Connects trauma studies conceptual insights to the study of difficult history, emphasizing positionality, and the value of active verbs and visible actors for acknowledging trauma and healing in curriculum standards. Concludes with a typology designed to examine collective trauma in social studies curricula and beyond.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Political Context and Divisive Concepts

Trauma, Historical Trauma, and Difficult Knowledge

Research Focus and Findings

Typology for Collective Trauma

AERA Open January-December 2024, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–15 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584241287472 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2024. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Inside the Black Box of Divisive Concepts and Difficult History: Introducing a Typology of Collective Trauma in Social Studies Education Paul J. Yoder Eastern Mennonite University Trauma studies scholars emphasize naming or acknowledging trauma to promote healing. In response to the recent political and curricular whiplash in the Commonwealth of Virginia, this paper investigates the prevalence and nature of traumagenicevents in Virginia’s social studies standards. Data analysis suggests that conceptual insights from trauma studies literature are broadly applicable in the study of traumagenic events in social studies. The findings foreground the role of positionalityin the study of traumagenic events and highlight the importance of active verbs and visible actors in acknowledging both trauma and healing in the standards. This paper concludes with a typology for examining collective trauma in social studies curricula and beyond. Keywords: difficult history, healing, history education, historical harm, social studies, trauma The history of people of color, particularly Black Americans, in our country is a history of strength, perseverance, courageous struggle, agency, and hope. But we also know that history is marked by exploitation, oppression, disenfranchisement, and discrimination. As education leaders in the Commonwealth of Virginia, we have a responsibility to recognize and confront such racism and discrimination. The Virginia Board of Education is committed to ensuring that Virginia students learn and understand the complex and often untold history of Black Americans in Virginia and our nation (Virginia Board of Education, 2020, para. 3) . Political indoctrination has no place in our classrooms. Inherently divisive concepts, such as critical race theory and its progeny, instruct students to view life only through the lens of race and presume that some students are consciously or unconsciously racist, sexist, or oppressive and that other students are victims. This denies our students the opportunity to gain important facts and core knowledge, formulate their own opinions, and think for themselves. Our children deserve far better from their education than to be told what to think (Youngkin, 2022, p. 1) . The clear interplay between recent political rhetoric and curricular changes in the Commonwealth of Virginia provides a powerful case study of the role that trauma plays in social studies curriculum. The two statements in the epigraph reflect opposing viewpoints for how U.S. public education should address content related to racism and other forms of oppression. Virginia’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, and other Republican politicians call such topics “divisive concepts” in an attempt to discredit honest efforts to acknowledge trauma. By contrast, scholarly literature refers to “complex and often untold history” (Virginia Board of Education, 2020, para. 3) as difficult knowledge, difficult history, or hard history (e.g., Gross & Terra, 2019; Pitt & Britzman, 2003; Southern Poverty Law Center, 2018) . The common denominator among historical and contemporary narratives involving discrimination and violence is the presence of traumagenic events—episodes that have caused or are likely to “cause trauma reactions for the majority of those who are targeted, perpetrators, and witnesses”(Anderson Hooker & Czajkowski, 2013, p. 14) . Although the two statements in the epigraph provide different visions for addressing traumagenic events in Virginia schools, they each name dynamics that explain why “teachers tend to struggle with teaching difficult history, and as a result, secondary students lack nuance

FAQs

What does the paper investigate about Virginia’s social studies standards?

It investigates the prevalence and nature of traumagenic events in Virginia’s social studies standards and how trauma-studies insights can inform studying difficult history.

How does the paper describe the role of positionality in addressing traumagenic events?

It foregrounds positionality as central to studying traumagenic events, and it stresses using active verbs and visible actors to acknowledge both trauma and healing in the standards.

What is the paper’s end contribution for social studies curricula?

It proposes a typology for examining collective trauma in social studies curricula and beyond.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious