This course will address the psychological impact and consequences of trauma on the political, cultural and psychological life of a community and a society. This course will examine the relationship between individual and collective trauma and the politics, cultural trends and relationships between citizens that have developed with the advent of various historical mass traumas. To do this, we focus on three major mass traumas that still reverberate today. These include 9/11, the January 6th attacks on the capitol and the mass trauma of slavery and the US civil war. This course is unique in that it will provide students the opportunity to “walk in the shoes of the other'' with a strong experiential aspect. During the class and in unpacking the case studies, we explore the following concepts as they relate to our current social and political situation: Socio-political group regression provoked by mass trauma, productive v.s destructive populism, the psychological nature of authoritarianism and fascism, and the psychological attack on democracy. As such this course will focus on contributions from the fields of trauma studies, media studies, psychology and psychoanalysis, conflict resolution and political dialogue. Psychological models of trauma intervention such as debriefing, EMDR, and community-response strategies to trauma will also be examined.