Rhetoric Review Oct 2020

Revisiting Research as Care: A Call to Decolonize Narratives of Trauma

John T. Gagnon ; Maria Novotny University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Abstract

As scholars who are interested in the ways in which trauma and rhetoric interconnect, we believe that our field’s narrative research methods, even those rooted in ethical responsivity, too often re-traumatize participants. In this article, we respond to concerns about the re-traumatization of research participants by asserting that a decolonial understanding of trauma helps us better understand both why rhetoricians do this work and begin to address how we can better conduct research with trauma populations. We examine how trauma narratives have been taken up in rhetoric studies, and suggest a need for the field to be cautious with such narratives. Given our concern for how narrative methods re-traumatize participants, we call for rhetoric studies to purposefully adopt a decolonial orientation to trauma work to better enact an approach centered in care. Finally, we offer examples of practices that can help us, as a field, decolonize our scholarship on trauma.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2020-10-01
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2020.1805558
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism decolonial rhetorics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (46)

  1. 10.1215/9780822388074
     ↗
  2. Andermahr Sonya. (2016)
    Decolonizing Trauma Studies: Trauma and Postcolonialism
  3. Anzaldúa Gloria. (1987)
    Borderland/Le Frontera: The New Mestiza
  4. Budryte Dovile.
    Humanities
  5. Carey Tamika. (2016)
    Rhetorical Healing: The Reeducation of Contemporary Black Womanhood
     ↗
Show all 46 →
  1. Caruth Cathy.
    Yale French Studies
  2. 10.1057/9781137292117
     ↗
  3. Crenshaw Kimberle Williams
    Stanford Law Review
  4. Cushman Ellen.
    College English
  5. Cushman Ellen
    Rhetoric Review
  6. Davis Angela Y. (1983)
    Women, Race & Class
  7. Dougherty Timothy.
    Enculturation
  8. Flores Lisa A.
    Review of Communication: Rhetorical Criticism’s Multitudes
  9. Gagnon John.
    POROI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetorical Analysis & Invention
  10. Gerdes Kendall.
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  11. Haas Angela.
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  12. Hoag Trevor. (2018)
    Occupying Memory: Rhetoric, Trauma, Mourning
  13. Husanović Jasmina.
    Feminist Theory
  14. Journat Debra. (2012)
    New Directions in Writing Studies Research
  15. King Lisa (2017)
    Legible Sovereignties: Rhetoric, Representations, and Native American Museums
     ↗
  16. King Thomas (2005)
    The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative
  17. Licona Adela C. (2012)
    Zines in Third Space Radical Cooperation and Borderlands Rhetoric
     ↗
  18. Lorde Audre. (1984)
    Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
  19. Micciche Laura.
    Composition Studies
  20. 10.1215/9780822394501
     ↗
  21. 10.1215/9780822384649-002
     ↗
  22. Molloy Cathryn.
    Composition Studies
  23. Monberg Terese Guinsatao
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  24. Novotny Maria
    Reflections: Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing and Service Learning
  25. Ong Aihwa. (2001)
    Feminism and ‘Race’
  26. Padilla J. Paul.
    Composition Studies
  27. Powell Malea.
    College Composition and Communication
  28. Powell Malea
    Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture
  29. Radder Hans. (2010)
    The Commodification of Academic Research
  30. Riley-Mukavetz Andrea M.
    Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization
  31. Rothberg Michael.
    Studies in the Novel
  32. Royster Jacqueline Jones
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  33. Royster Jacqueline Jones (2012)
    Feminist Rhetorical Practices: New Horizons for Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies
  34. Schrock Richelle D.
    Journal of Feminist Scholarship
  35. Shade-Johnson, Jaquetta.Wishi Stories: Rhetorical Strategies of Survivance and Continuance in Oklahoma Cherok…
  36. Smith Linda Tuhiwai. (2013)
    Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples
  37. 10.1215/9780822398646
     ↗
  38. Tuck Eve
    Decolonization: Indigenity, Education & Society
  39. Visser Irene. (2001)
    Decolonizing Trauma Studies: Trauma and Postcolonialism
  40. West Thomas.
    Rhetoric Review
  41. Yergeau Melanie. (2018)
    Authoring Autism: On Rhetoric and Neurological Queerness
CrossRef global citation count: 8 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2026
    Lessons in Security Logics from Cold-War Guatemala ↗
    Brittany Halley; Elizabeth Velasquez
    rhetorical criticism decolonial rhetorics technical communication gender and writing
  2. Res Rhetorica Oct 2025
    LAW-Defense at the border: Margo Tamez’s rhetorics of survivance ↗
    Ewelina Bańka
    rhetorical criticism decolonial rhetorics
  3. Rhetoric Society Quarterly Mar 2025
    Thinking in and through Comparative Rhetoric and Decolonial Studies ↗
    Hua Zhu; Romeo García; LuMing Mao; Ellen Cushman; Mari Lee Mifsud; Jenna Zan; Florianne Jimenez; Xiaoye You; Lixin Liu; Stephen Kwame Dadugblor; Tarez Samra Graban; José M. Cortez
    rhetorical criticism decolonial rhetorics
  4. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2025
    The Unlikely World of the Montgomery Bus Boycott: Solidarity across Alabama, the United Kingdom and South Africa ↗
    Margaret Murphy
    rhetorical criticism decolonial rhetorics
  5. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2025
    The Center Cannot Hold: Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO ↗
    Felicity Sena Dogbatse
    rhetorical criticism decolonial rhetorics collaborative writing qualitative research race and writing gender and writing editorial matter