[Xmca-l] Re: Fwd: Things Fall Apart listed as "trigger warning"

[David Kellogg]

I think I agree with Jenna, actually. For many years I suffered from
something very like PTSD in response to fireworks (this is apparently
fairly common with people who have spent time in war zones).
Fortunately, when people set off fireworks, they hardly ever do it
without a warning, and so when I heard the warning, I just walked away
(well, okay, at first I would just run away, but I did learn to walk
later).

I have gradually learned to walk away more slowly and not to walk so
very far, and in thisi way I have slowly overcome my visceral
reactions (although going back to China during spring festival is
still something of a trial). But I don't think I would have been able
to overcome my symptoms without the warnings, and I like to think that
this too has been something of an education.

I also think that the real problem in this, as in almost all debates
over what the rightwingers like to call "political correctness", the
underlying question being asked is whether dialogic interaction really
has to be voluntary in order to be dialogic. To me, that is like
asking whether civil discourse really needs to be civil

David Kellogg
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

On 4 April 2014 02:30, Jenna McWilliams <jennamcjenna@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a different opinion. I don't think it hurts anybody to be made aware that some novels and topics trigger more intense emotions in some due to past experiences of trauma. If anything, it poised us to think about the different experiences--many of these based in deep social inequities--that people bring to education and to build a pedagogy of responsiveness as a result.
>
> Theories of trauma are rooted in feminist theory, queer studies, disability studies, and critical race theory. Too often trauma-focused research and pedagogies of trauma and responsiveness are ignored, dismissed, or attacked because of education's grounding in rationalist (eurocentric, masculinist, heterosexist, etc.) ways of conceptualizing knowledge, education, and experience.
>
> My .02.
>
> Jenna McWilliams
> Cultural-Historical Research SIG Communication Chair, AERA
> Indiana University
>
> jennamcjenna@gmail.com
> jenmcwil@indiana.edu
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Apr 3, 2014, at 12:08 PM, Lubomir Savov Popov <lspopov@bgsu.edu> wrote:
>>
>> College students are evidently adults. They are smart enough to curtail particular kinds of ideas by claiming personal protection from such ideas. The principle of protection can be used both ways. After this case, I would not be astonished if students start imposing restrictions on what they are thought. The whole sociocultural situation needs to be reconsidered with a fine balance among privileged ideas, individual rights, public good, etc.
>>
>> I have heard that the leftist organizations in the US had manuals for organized struggle. Several years ago the Tea Party activists used these manuals to craft their own versions. People are quick learners. They can take any tool and use it to their own benefit. Tools are tools. Neutral. It is the people who used them in accepted or unacceptable ways. We need to focus more on that side.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Lubomir
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of David Preiss
>> Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 12:56 PM
>> To: lchcmike@gmail.com; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Cc: communication@ucsd.edu
>> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Fwd: Things Fall Apart listed as "trigger warning"
>>
>> This is disgusting. Aren't college students adults? They could carry a gun, drive a car and vote for president of the main military power in the world but they have to be protected from "sensitive material"? And what is that? I doubt faculty is using tenure (if they have it) to disseminate offending material... This will destroy university life. Those faculty voting that should read a bit of Philip Roth (The human stain, may be).
>> David
>>
>>
>>> On Apr 3, 2014, at 1:40 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Subject: Things Fall Apart listed as "trigger warning"
>>>
>>> I hope the story below does not upset you, so if you are concerned, I
>>> hereby excuse you from reading it. On the other hand, if you teach at
>>> an institution of higher learning, you might brave the text.
>>>
>>> take care
>>> mike
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-trigger-warnings-20140
>>> 331,0,6700908.story#ixzz2xkhRnkSo
>>>
>>> --
>>
>>
>>
>