Research and Teaching on a Former Battlefield

Public panel discussion event on the DAAD-supported international research network: "Trauma, Trust and Memory – Social Trauma and Reconciliation in Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and Cultural Memory".

• Damir Arsenijevic (University Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

• Andreas Hamburger (IPU Berlin, Spokesperson TTM)

• Camellia Hancheva (University Sofia, Bulgaria)

• Carmen Scher (IPU Berlin, Coordinator TTM)

• Chair: Martin Teising (IPU Berlin, President)

Social trauma affects groups of people who share common experiences of war, persecution or genocide. The most recent cases of these are the conflicts in the Balkan region in the 1990s or the still ongoing war in Syria.

In 2012, an international research network was established, consisting of professors, students, up-and-coming scientists and researchers, as well as Western Balkan experts from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria and Germany. On a specialist level, research areas in psychoanalysis, the social sciences, cultural studies and psychology are represented here. This academic network provides a bridge-building model of trauma transformation, reconciliation and recovery through academic reconstruction and cross-border dialogue. It has already resulted in a "Social Trauma" compulsory elective module that is recognised by all of the project partners and is being taught at the seven participating partner universities.

The initial project phase that focused on "Trauma, Trust and Memory – Social Trauma and Reconciliation in Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and Cultural Memory" was brought to a conclusion in 2016. The outcomes from this are reflected in the first joint book that has now been published, which, in addition to contributions from Vamik Volkan and Mark Solms, also presents research results from students in the network. Since 2017, the follow-up project "Migration – Trauma in Transition. Exploring Sociotraumatic Roots of Dealing with Refugees" has been up and running.