CfP: Trauma, Institutional Knowledge, and Social Order: New Perspectives from Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War, 3–5 December 2025, University of Graz

 

How did “trauma” emerge as a therapeutic concept, political discourse, and administrative practice in Europe during the Cold War? How was it treated or silenced, conceptualized or classified? What role did psychiatric diagnoses, forensic reports, police investigations, and bureaucratic procedures play in shaping societal responses to events such as political violence, armed conflicts, displacement, natural catastrophes, epidemics, or other structural forms of harm?