91短视频

During her sabbatical, 91短视频 professor is studying how, in one author鈥檚 fiction, 鈥渢he Civil War conflict reverberates in one Appalachian community even after most people there are no longer consciously aware of its relevance.”

For Eads, this theme has resonated since her childhood in western North Carolina.

鈥淢y dad remembers hearing his mother talk about overhearing quarrels between her grandfathers,鈥� said Eads. One grandfather had fought for the Confederacy, spending time as a prisoner of war, and the other had fought for the Union.

Eads鈥� project also includes themes of slavery and historic harms and trauma 鈥� both of which she鈥檚 integrated creatively into coursework and training, literary research and a dialogue/discussion series with formerly incarcerated men.

Sabbatical allows immersion in important themes

The texts she鈥檚 chosen to focus on are by Ron Rash, professor of Appalachian culture studies at Western Carolina University. Rash鈥檚 novel (Henry Holt, 2006) as well as many of his short stories, 鈥渃onsider the ways in which the Civil War conflict reverberates in one Appalachian community even after most people there are no longer consciously aware of its relevance,鈥� she says. [A directed by David Burriss and staring Jeremy Irvine and Noah Wyle was released in 2015.]

Eads has already published one product of her sabbatical, an essay titled 鈥�,鈥� in The Cresset. She continues to read, research, write and dialogue with community members through the end of this semester.

Eads, who has taught English at 91短视频 since 2003, is drawn to teaching texts that focus on trauma and its effects, such as Toni Morrison鈥檚 鈥淏eloved,鈥� a novel about a mother who escapes from slavery only to be recaptured and taken back to a plantation in Kentucky.

One reason for that draw is because 鈥�91短视频 students seem to find these texts most meaningful,鈥� she said.

Reading through a trauma awareness lens

As part of her preparation for this multidisciplinary project, Eads underwent some unusual 鈥渢raining.” First, she completed (STAR) Level I training offered by 91短视频’s . The curriculum 鈥� learning about cycles of violence, responses to trauma, and the effects of unhealed trauma 鈥� led her to different perspectives on the literature she was studying.

Then she traveled to Yale University to participate in a about slave narratives sponsored by the In the company of other scholars, she learned more about slavery and abolition in American culture and history.

鈥淩e-reading Harriet Jacobs’ and Frederick Douglass’ slave narratives, which I teach regularly, and reading other slave narratives for the first time through the lens of trauma theory advanced my understanding of the obstacles enslaved people faced,鈥� she said.

One memorable afternoon in Yale鈥檚 Bass Library, she perused the first editions of two slave narratives, but 鈥渂est of all (so poignant!),鈥� she posted to Facebook that day, 鈥渨as seeing a handwritten manuscript of Jupiter Hammon’s 鈥楨ssay on Slavery.鈥欌��

Her colleagues in the seminar, who came from around the United States, were most interested in 91短视频 initiatives for trauma healing such as STAR and 鈥攑rograms that Eads says 鈥渃an help people move beyond suffering to hope and healing.鈥�

Eads plans to take the two-day 鈥溾�� workshop, offered by Coming to the Table, an affiliate program of CJP focused on racial reconciliation, to deepen her knowledge.

Becoming conversant in the language and dialogue of trauma awareness and healing isn鈥檛 only useful for textual analysis and teaching, Eads says. As a part of her project, she will be reading short stories and discussing many of these themes with residents of Gemeinschaft Home, a therapeutic, transitional home for individuals recently released or diverted from incarceration located in Harrisonburg.