Customer Reviews

Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World: A Guide for Activists and Their Allies (Flashpoint)

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AFTERSHOCK: CONFRONTING TRAUMA IN A VIOLENT WORLD -> A GUIDE FOR ACTIVISTS AND THEIR ALLIES is psychotherapist/radical progressive activist pattrice jones's gift to her fellow activists and allies. In it, she imparts her plans for the REAL 'war on terror' - "the struggle for a world in which nobody lives in fear of atrocities perpetrated by human beings." This involves healing those activists who have suffered (and continue to suffer) from "aftershock," a phenomenon that jones describes as "the physical and emotional reverberations of frightening, horrifying, or otherwise traumatizing experiences endured in the course of their activism." On a larger scale, we must also work together to heal our "trauma culture," which consists of a society that is both traumatized and traumatizing and is characterized by deep divisions, such as those between groups of people, between humans and non-human animals, and between people and nature.

In the "User Guide," jones suggests specific sections that may be especially helpful to aftershocked activists, friends and allies of those suffering from aftershock, and therapists working with activists. However, I urge everyone to read AFTERSHOCK in its entirety. jones is a gifted and accessible writer, so this is hardly a chore! Even when discussing complex psychological theories, jones manages to keep the conversation friendly and interesting, with little jargon. Occasionally she'll wander off on a slight tangent - such as when discussing the rise of patrism, pastoralism, and the patriarchy - and you'll find yourself wishing she'd expounded on the idea rather than guiding you back to the issue at hand. As a result, AFTERSHOCK is filled with all sorts of intriguing ideas and theories.

Much of AFTERSHOCK addresses the activist community directly. jones begins by tackling what is perhaps the deepest division traumatizing our culture today - the artificial wall that's been erected between human and non-human animals. jones explains the physiological processes from which our "animal emotions" originate, and stresses that we cannot suppress, ignore, and neglect our bodies, our feelings, and ourselves without suffering from deleterious consequences such as burnout. Nor will ignoring a trauma make it go away; rather, doing so could exacerbate or cause aftershock. The first action we must take against trauma and aftershock is to confront and embrace our animal selves.

jones then fleshes out her concept of "aftershock." Because of the trauma they've faced, aftershocked activists may suffer from clinically diagnosable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or depression, as well of symptoms of each. Here, jones takes on some controversies within the psychological community, such as "shadow syndromes," gender bias in clinical syndromes and diagnoses, and the nature of normality. She also describes some unique symptoms of aftershock; because of what they've experienced in the course of their activism, PTSD and depression may manifest uniquely in aftershocked activists.

jones concludes her discussion of trauma in individuals with advice for combating and preventing aftershock. For individuals, healing involves sanctuary (creating safe spaces); memory and mourning (remembering and retelling the traumatic event so that it can be integrated into your memories, and grieving the person you were before the trauma, for the "old you" is gone forever); connection (with other humans, other animals, and your environment/ecosystem); and making peace (between "your wishes and the world"). Friends, allies, therapists, organizations, and the community can all help aftershocked activists by providing sanctuary, encouraging remembrance, and facilitating connections. Perhaps more importantly, we can all work together to prevent aftershock (or at least lessen its impact) in our most vulnerable activists.

This section on "Action against Fracture" is a must-read for those working within the framework of an organized, action-centered group. Speaking from experience, jones lays out a coherent action plan for making activist organizations safe spaces for their volunteers and employees. Pay extra-special attention to the discussion of sexual harassment and assault within organizations - as jones notes time and again, an individual may hold progressive ideas on one subject, but still be an agent/tool of the patriarchy when it comes to gender issues (just visit any large, liberal, male-dominated blogging community and see how teh wimmins are treated!).

The last portion of AFTERSHOCK deals with our "trauma culture." Though it does follow from the preceding chapters, its macro focus almost makes it seem like a whole new book. For me (a non-aftershocked armchair activist), this was the most stimulating section of AFTERSHOCK. Throughout the text, jones raises the issue of parallel (or intersecting) oppressions - racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, speciesism, etc. - and in discussing our fractured culture, this topic truly comes to the fore. jones cautions, "feminists ought not to be eating hamburgers and animal liberationists ought not to be wearing shoes sewn in sweatshops." A sentiment with which this fellow green / veg*n / feminist / GLBT ally / animal advocate couldn't agree more! However, many progressive social movements seem, to some degree, to be separated from one another - and ALL share a common disdain for us 'crazy animal rights fanatics.' jones entreats us to BE bridges (a step beyond merely building bridges, I guess) between movements - an admirable goal, to be sure, but I'm still left wondering how you ally yourself with movements that you may agree with, but who don't exactly sympathize with you? Speciesism is the last "ism" that's still deemed acceptable by the whole of society. Sure, we might be able to rally support on some weak animal welfare measures, such as a ban on foie gras or cockfighting, but the total liberation of animals? Fugeddaboutit.

If only there were more existentialist / eco-anarchafeminist / lesbian / dreamer-blamers like pattrice jones in the world - then I think this whole building bridges/being bridges business would be a (patriarchy-) smashing success!

In the meantime, get yourself a copy of AFTERSHOCK. Read it, share it, do it. Keep on agitating, progressing, and protesting. We're all foot soldiers in the war on the War on Terra - so let's keep one another safe and healthy!

As a holistic health counselor, I believe that Aftershock would be useful both for therapists as well as survivors of trauma. In fact, I'll go one step further and say that it is essential reading and that even though you probably won't agree with everything jones has to say, you will undoubtedly be moved, and if you're like me, may even question some of your own behavior and deep-seated beliefs.

Reading this book, I was touched by jones' candor, saddened and shocked by the stories of trauma, and ultimately empowered by the specific tools offered to forge on in the face of a mad and maddening world. Aftershock is a holistic manual that deconstructs and demystifies what it means to stand up against injustice, showing us first-hand how to confront trauma, and giving us the power and clarity to survive.

this book will remain in your mind quite a while after you have finished reading it. it is too full of helpful insights and effective ideas to be so easily forgotten. the book details how to protect yourself and those you care about from trauma of all kinds. even activists who know some of the things this book offers should expect it to be useful regardless of that. everyone should know how to care for others and this book will help you.

pattrice jones speaks with clarity and passion about issues that are often overlooked in actvist communities. Drawing from her experiences as both and activist and a trained psychotherapist, she is able to convey her thoughts in a way that makes sense to both audiences.

This book will make a huge difference for anyone who has ever felt angry, hurt, or guilty because of something surrounding their activism. I found special value in her deep understanding of activist culture and her sensitivity to the unique ways in which activists view the world and themselves in it.

I highly reccomend that all activists read this book, whether or not you feel you struggle with symptoms of afershock. Chances are good that one of your activist companions will at some point, and it would make a huge difference in our communities (as well as our effectiveness as individuals and as movements) if all activists were familiar with the components of aftershock and how to support one another in dealing with them.

I highly, highly reccomend this book. Read it and discuss it with the people in your collectives. It may help to heal some past hurts and prevent others from ever happening. My deepest thanks to the author for having written this important book.

By applying the psychological framework of post-traumatic stress syndrome to an understanding of frontline activism, Aftershock articulates a new branch of ecopsychology, one that puts interspecies relations at the center of both diagnosis and recovery.

Unlike the early versions of ecopsychology articulated from a deep ecological standpoint, focused on healing the human self via recognizing, reclaiming, and nurturing "his" (yes) connection to wild/unpolluted/indigenous "nature," jones' ecopsychology is eco-anarcha-feminist, meaning its understanding of self-identity is fundamentally interdependent. An eco-anarcha-feminist psychology emphasizes not just individual salvation and healing, but collective healing. It recognizes reciprocity: healing the self, the community, and the system of interspecies relationships can (and in fact, must) work together. At the same time, activists who defend oppressed and traumatized animals and ecozones can become traumatized themselves. This understanding is her book's central premise: we cannot be fully healthy, whole, contented beings while our relationships with other animals and the earth remain are structured by oppression.

One of the strongest features of this book is the dialogic quality of the writing. Jones addresses the reader directly, acutely aware of how her words may affect the reader at any given moment. By citing acts of violence from numerous diverse contexts--from early childhood abuse to rape, from animal experimentation to factory farming, and from global warming and species loss to poverty, malnutrition, and starvation--jones' book cannot help but touch a deep chord in each reader.

Alternating discussion of difficult topics such as violent childrearing, suppressed memory, or emotional numbness, jones suggests noticing beauty as a way of surviving unbearable sadness. She gives the national suicide hotline number right in the text of one chapter, and mentions more than once that no one is alone. She writes about empathy as the primary force for healing from trauma culture, and in the very act of reading her book, her voice empathizes with the reader.

In this context, Jones' veganism is not a form of single-issue activism, but rather part of a empathic framework for restoring connections that is critical to personal, social, and ecological health. The majority of human societies are organized around denying our animality and denying the ways that social wealth has required the oppression, labor, bodies, and suffering of marginalized human and non-human animals. To explain her point, jones uses the example of dairy products: "The mechanism that allows us to drink milk without thinking of the pain of the cow for whose calf that milk was intended is the same mechanism that allows us to sleep peacefully in pajamas sewn by hungry children in South Asian sweatshops. The idea that we are exempt from the rules that apply to other animals allows us to ignore the foreboding storm warnings of global warming" (p. 175). Refusing to deny the evidence of oppression, refusing to sever connections to oppressed others and cut-off parts of our own selves, activists take the first steps toward healing from trauma culture.

Reading Aftershock is itself an act of healing, a process that becomes both safe and possible because jones companions the reader through the steps she too has experienced. She tells the truth of unspeakable trauma; she gives it a framework that explains its origins and its meaning; she shows how to make peace with unpleasant reality and how to remember that "blue skies and bright colors, birdsong and sea breezes ... [are all] parts of the real world, too" (113).

as a long time animal rights activist and animal welfare worker, I highly recommend this book for your bookshelf. I have read it, written notes in the margins, noted special pages to use as reference, and in general feel this is a book all of us who find our hearts torn out on a daily basis need to have as backup when all else fails to help us through the rough spots.

angel blessings,

Phyllis Fischer