On War-Related Trauma

In/Visible Wounds: Interpreting and Diagnosing War-Related Trauma

With Jean Beckham, Warren Kinghorn, and Adam Tietje

Join us for a panel discussion on war-related trauma with Professor Jean Beckham, Professor Warren Kinghorn, and US Army Chaplain (Capt.) Adam Tietje. Our panelists bring their experience in the Duke Divinity School, Duke Medical Center, the Durham VA, and the US Armed Forces to a discussion that will address such questions as: How does the way that post-traumatic stress is named and described affect clinical and social responses to veterans, and veterans’ own approaches to healing? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the use of biological models to explain and treat war-related trauma? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the use of moral/spiritual language to understand war-related trauma? What does it mean to move forward for those suffering from trauma?

Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Forum for Scholars and Publics. This event is part of the speaker series In/Visible Wounds, which is designed to accompany and engage with The Unknown Soldier photography exhibit by David Jay, on display at the Fredric Jameson Gallery on Duke’s East Campus from November 7 -17, 2017. The Unknown Soldier is a series of large-scale portraits in black and white documenting young military veterans recovering from wounds upon their return home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Although the photographs chronicle the physical effects of America’s military conflicts, the exhibit focuses more broadly on giving visibility to the wounded among us and creates opportunities for stories of those who have been injured by war and trauma to emerge, to be told, and to be heard. Visit the series website at veterans.dukefsp.org.