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Conflict and Aftermath

Introduction

We are delighted to include in this volume four papers by distinguished scholars that were chosen from the University of the Incarnate Word’s “Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) and Trauma Symposium,” which was organized around the theme of “Conflict and Aftermath.” The Symposium took place in San Antonio, Texas from April 12-13, 2019 at UIW. It featured a wide range of disciplines, including Religious Studies, English, Philosophy, and Education, among others. All pieces in this volume consider deeply how Women’s and Gender Studies and Trauma Studies inevitably overlap. The Symposium was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which aimed to research and develop courses that address psychological trauma from a variety of perspectives in the Humanities. This project was founded on the belief that, as Dominck LaCapra writes, “no genre or discipline ‘owns’ trauma as a problem nor can define its boundaries” (Writing History, Writing Trauma, 2001, 96). It is in this spirit that the interdisciplinary Symposium was organized and the papers included in this volume were selected. Together with guest editors Dr. Zenon Culverhouse and Dr. LuElla D’Amico, who organized the Symposium, the editors selected conference proceedings that reflected the intersection of scholarship and compassion that defines each piece published in Verbum Incarnatum. We hoped to maintain the feel and spirit of the live presentations in these pieces, to the best of our ability. We hope readers can appreciate them in their own right but also as a record of successful and enlightening podium presentations. It is our pleasure and privilege to share with our readers the vibrant and urgent work of these scholars, and we hope to continue to publish essays that enrich discussions of social justice in the years to come.