She Was Sure She Was In Hell: Women's War Trauma In/As History

Food provided!

The First World War provided one of the first definitions of war trauma in modern history, and is continually invoked in present-day narratives of PTSD. But how did this diagnosis develop, and what were the consequences for those who didn't meet those criteria? In this presentation, we will consider the ways in which 'shell shock' developed as a diagnosis that focused on combatant men, what the effects were on women, on the British and Irish battlefront and the home front, and what the consequences of this history are for present-day studies and treatments of war trauma.

Bridget Keown earned her PhD in history at Northeastern University, where her research focused on the experience and treatment of war-related trauma among British and Irish women during the First World War and Irish War of Independence, and the construction of history through trauma.  She has written blogs on this research for the American Historical Associationand Lady Science, and is a contributing writer for Nursing Clio. She is also researching the history of kinship among gay and lesbian groups during the AIDS outbreak in the United States and Ireland.  Her other interests include the history of emotions, history of medicine, gender and the horror genre, and postcolonial queer theory and performance.  Bridget is a co-chair of the Gender and Memory Working Group of the Memory Studies Association and serves on the Executive Council of the American Conference for Irish Studies.