When bodies require trigger warnings
pp. 17-21
in: Sarah Travis, Amelia M. Kraehe, Emily J. Hood, Tyson E. Lewis (eds), Pedagogies in the flesh, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
In 2014, Oberlin College in Ohio drafted a trigger warning policy spurred by a petition from students who felt some of their learning was affecting their mental and emotional well-being. During the ensuing global debate, a black female professor, Jade Davis, highlighted that for some students their teachers' physical bodies were potential triggers, which makes the interrogation of what constitutes a "trigger" necessary. In some classrooms, the physical body becomes a historical, political, and social site of difference that can trigger tensions and emotional breakdowns. Chimbganda explores her own experience as a racialized woman teaching about race and gender politics to university students who see her role as accuser, not educator, therefore triggering guilt, anxiety, and resentments.