Healing Collective Trauma: Navigating Shared Histories and Pathways to Restoration
Symposium: March 31 and April 1, 2025
Venue: UAB Hill Student Center Ballrooms A-D | 1400 University Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35294
This symposium seeks to explore the deep and lasting impacts of collective trauma across diverse communities and histories. The two-day event will bring together scholars, practitioners, and community advocates to engage in meaningful dialogue about the ongoing legacies of trauma rooted in racial injustice, genocide, systemic discrimination, and cultural erasure. By focusing on specific historical and contemporary contexts—such as racial trauma, the intergenerational impact of the Holocaust on Jewish identity, the profound cultural and spiritual wounds suffered by Native American tribes, and the often-overlooked trauma experienced by people with disabilities—the symposium aims to foster a deeper understanding of how trauma manifests, persists, and can be collectively addressed.
Through an interdisciplinary lens, the symposium will delve into the various pathways for healing, drawing on both traditional and alternative methods. Presentations will highlight community-based approaches that center storytelling, cultural reclamation, and ancestral practices, as well as innovative therapeutic techniques that integrate somatic practices, art, and ritual. Special emphasis will be placed on exploring non-Western healing modalities, trauma-informed care, and the importance of building inclusive, accessible spaces that honor diverse experiences and narratives.
Participants will engage in workshops, panel discussions, and interactive sessions designed to create a collaborative environment for sharing insights and strategies for collective healing. The symposium aims to challenge dominant paradigms by addressing the ethical dimensions of trauma recovery, advocating for justice-oriented healing practices, and promoting a vision of solidarity and resilience that transcends individual and communal boundaries. By bringing together these varied perspectives, we seek to inspire actionable steps toward a more equitable and compassionate future for all communities impacted by collective trauma.
Conference AgendaRegister for Conference
Call for Abstracts for Poster Session
Submission Deadline: March 17, 2025
We invite abstracts from graduate and undergraduate students, scholars, educators, advocates, practitioners, clinicians, and professionals on topics related to healing collective trauma, broadly defined.
Abstracts are limited to 250 words. Abstracts should include:
- Background/Introduction – Context or problem statement
- Objective/Purpose – What the study or project aims to achieve
- Methods/Approach – How the research or project was conducted
- Results/Findings – Key outcomes (if applicable)
- Conclusion/Implications – The significance or impact of the work
Abstracts are reviewed anonymously by an interdisciplinary program committee and rated based on the following criteria:
- importance of the issue or problem addressed;
- clarity of content;
- soundness of the methodology and conceptual framework used;
- substantive findings or recommendations; and
- relevance to a broad audience.
Submit Abstracts for Poster Session Opens an external link.
Abstract submission will close on Monday, March 17, 2025 at 11:59 pm CST.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at
Thank You to Our Sponsors
UAB Sponsors:
- Institute for Human Rights
- Lister Hill Center for Health Policy
- College of Arts and Sciences:
- African American Studies Program
- Department of Anthropology
- Department of History
- Department of Political Science and Public Administration
- Department of Philosophy
- Department of Psychology
- Department of Social Work
Activities Statement: The purpose of all UAB Institute for Human Rights (IHR) programs, activities, and endeavors is to foster collaboration, scholarly exchange, and academic learning related to human rights.