A Critique of Resilience in the Age of Trauma

Joelle M. Abi-Rached
Mildred Londa Weisman Fellow,
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

March 27, 2024  •  3:00-4:15PM
William James Hall #105
33 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA
Reception to follow
 

ABSTRACT

In this lecture I propose a critical analysis of psychological resilience, which has become the mantra of our epoch, by historizing it and problematizing it. I will contend that it is neither a stable nor a timeless concept, but rather a concept that emerged in the late twentieth century for reasons that I will explore in the lecture. I will contend that resilience has supplanted stoicism as a philosophy of life or a therapy of the soul. I will also argue that it is no longer enough to refine the concept, what “critical resilience” adherents purport to do. Instead, what we need is a serious reappraisal of the normalization of violence.