Suchergebnisse

The aim of this article is to explicate a terror management theory (TMT) analysis of the poor social and psychological well-being of African Americans by drawing upon a model of cultural trauma to explain the antecedents and effects of posttraumatic slave syndrome. Cultural trauma is defined as a state that occurs when a people's cultural worldview has been destabilized to the point where it does not effectively meet its TMT function of providing a buffer against basic anxiety and uncertainty. The article outlines how the impact of slavery was a significant trauma to African American people, which was carried forward through successive generations; providing an explanation of their current anxiety-related conditions, poor health, and maladaptive behaviors. Findings from health and justice research and qualitative data from narratives of African Americans are presented to substantiate the adaptation of a model of cultural trauma for understanding the contemporary situation of African Americans.

This integrative review seeks to employ insights from critical social psychology and Indigenous nation building governance research to advance an explanation for why Australian state policy continually fails to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and reproduces trauma. The review suggests that settler-colonial law and policy embed a history of oppressive relations that suppress Indigenous voice, culture, and identity, inexorably leading to intergenerational traumatic social and wellbeing outcomes for Indigenous peoples. Given settler-colonial policy's ongoing role in continuing the subordination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law/lore, the ongoing policy failure to redress Indigenous inequality and improve their wellbeing is unsurprising. Nevertheless, our analysis contributes to understanding how just and viable relations between Australian Indigenous peoples and the settler-colonial state are possible through collaborative politics. Allowing space for agreement and disagreement in their worldviews, collaborative negotiations offer a way forward to redress policy failures and traumatic outcomes that are currently entrenched.